Commercial services of the country’s first underwater metro train commenced in Kolkata on Friday with hundreds of passengers erupting into jubilation on their first ride.
A train began its journey from the Howrah Maidan station on the East-West metro corridor of Kolkata at 7 am with loud cheers and claps from commuters, while another started cruising from Esplanade station at the same time.
Hundreds of commuters thronged the stations in the early morning to be part of the “first-day first underwater metro” bandwagon. At the two stations in the 4.8-km stretch, passengers were seen standing in long queues in the morning to get tickets, while the authorities greeted them with rose stems.
There was excitement among the passengers while a section of commuters at the Howrah Maidan station started chanting ‘Jai Sri Ram’ slogan as they boarded the train. Kolkata and Howrah are connected through bridges over the Hooghly river but now the twin cities are being linked beneath the river, which is itself exciting, said Arati Bose, 56, a resident of Howrah district, before boarding the first train at Howrah Maidan.
Like her, Sharmistha Khamrui, 52, reached the station early in the morning along with her husband to soak in the festive-like fervour. “I am elated to be able to take an underwater metro ride on the inaugural day. Many of us cherish the moment today as we saw how the construction work started and workers dug a part of GT Road to execute the project,” she said.
For Sudham Giri, aged 26, and his friends, the inauguration of the metro services was a dream come true. “We have been hearing about this under-river project since our school days and had doubts whether we would be able to witness this in our life span as the project got delayed. Now, Howrah is on the metro map that gives immense pleasure,” he said.
Srimanti Biswas, a college goer, was so excited about the launch of the metro service that immediately after buying the ticket, she kissed it and rushed to her friends for a group selfie. Manjushri Bhattacharya (36) and her 10-year-old daughter were, however, lamenting for not being able to board the first train as it was jam-packed with commuters.
So was Raja Podder, 47, and two of his friends, who reached Howrah Maidan Station much before the commencement of service at 7 am but missed the first train as there was a long queue at the ticket counter. The excitement was so great that people from suburban areas, like Mecheda in Purba Medinipur district, Bandel in Hooghly and Bongaon in North 24 Paraganas, reached the metro stations of the East-West corridor early in the morning to be part of the momentous occasion.
“I am thrilled to take a ride from Esplanade to Howrah Maidan. It is a lifetime experience and a historical day in Kolkata,” said Rabin Dey, 62, who came from Bongaon. The commercial services began after Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on March 6 inaugurated the Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section of Kolkata Metro’s East-West corridor, heralding India’s first venture into underwater metro services.
As the train entered the under-river stretch, passengers on board erupted in joy while a section of commuters started raising slogans – “this is Modi’s guarantee” and some enthusiastically rushed to the window to get a glimpse of the illumination of the tunnel wall under the Hooghly river. A special illumination of the inner wall of the tunnels under the river with blue light has been arranged to give the effects of water around the moving rake.
The under-river section of the tunnel is 520 metres long, and a train took around 45 seconds to cross it. “So far, we get an overwhelming response, and people even came as early as 2.30 am to experience the first underwater metro services in the country,” Metro Railway spokesperson Kaushik Mitra said.
Nilanjan Sharma, a central government employee, hoped that the 8-10 minute ride in an air-conditioned train between Howrah-Maidan and Esplanade would change the way commuters move. “The days of commuters travelling packed like sardines in buses will no longer exist as the under-river metro ride is joyous,” he said.
In the Howrah Maidan to Esplanade section, a total of 130 services will be available daily from Monday to Saturday. The trains will run at 12-15 minute intervals in both directions, according to a statement issued by the Metro Railway earlier. The Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section, a groundbreaking addition to the metropolis’ transportation network and touted to be the first transportation tunnel under any mighty river in India, has the deepest metro station in the country — the Howrah Metro station.
The authorities on Friday also launched commercial services on the Kavi Subhash-Hemanta Mukhopadhyay section of the New Garia-Aiport line and the Taratala-Majerhat section of the Joka-Esplanade line of the Kolkata Metro, the country’s oldest metro network. According to the statement issued by the Metro Railway, the 4.8-km stretch of East-West Metro from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade has been built at a cost of Rs 4,965 crore.
The Salt Lake Sector V to Sealdah stretch of the corridor has already been commercially operational. The work for the East-West corridor began in 2009 and tunneling under the Hooghly river commenced in 2017.
Of the total 16.6 km of the corridor, 10.8 km is underground, including the tunnel beneath the river. The project has suffered delays owing to an aquifer burst at Bowbazar in central Kolkata on August 31, 2019, leading to severe ground subsidence, the collapse of several buildings there and two more water leakage incidents at the same site in 2022 during tunnelling and construction work.
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