Kolkata, Mar. 6: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated India’s first underwater Metro line in Kolkata and took a ride on the train from Esplanade to Howrah Maidan along with several school students. Modi also virtually inaugurated several other Metro services across the country.

The Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section underwater Metro line has the first transportation tunnel under a river in India. It passes under the Hooghly River –Kolkata and Howrah are situated on its east and west banks, respectively – and has the deepest Metro station in India at Howrah (30 m deep).

According to the Indian Media, Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, a total of 11.45 km is being added to the existing Kolkata Metro network– 5.4 km on the Orange Line, 4.8 km on the Green Line and 1.25 km on the Purple Line.

According to officials, from its inception in 1984 till 2014, only 27.99 km of the Metro network was functional in Kolkata. After 2014, the Metro network was expanded by 25.34 km, starting with the inauguration of the first phase of the East-West Metro from Salt Lake Sector V to Salt Lake Stadium over a 5.3 km stretch in 2020. Gradually, the Kolkata Metro extended its wings and the Salt Lake Stadium to Phoolbagan (1.67 km) and Phoolbagan to Sealdah (2.33 km) stretches were also opened for commercial service. The Noapara-Dakshineswar stretch (4.14 km) was inaugurated in 2021 and the Joka-Taratala (6.5 km) stretch on the Purple Line was inaugurated in 2022.

As per Metro authorities, 2022-2023 recorded the highest-ever Metro network expansion of 14.23 km in a single year. “It was an addition of 36 per cent to the existing network since Kolkata Metro’s inception,” an official said.

Between 1972 and 2014, an expenditure of Rs 5,981 crore was made for all Kolkata Metro projects.  From 2014 to October 2023, an expenditure of Rs 19,043 crore has been made to complete all the ongoing Metro projects in the city.

At present, the Kolkata Metro network spans a 47.93 km stretch – 32.13 km of North-South Corridor, 9.3 km of East-West Corridor and 6.5 km of Joka-Esplanade Corridor. An extension of 13.27 km has been planned. Of this, a 4.80 km stretch of East-West Metro from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade was inaugurated on Wednesday along with another extension of 1.25 km from Taratala to Majerhat and a 5.4 km stretch of New Metro Corridor from Kavi Subhas to Hemanta Mukhopadhyay.

New Metro Corridor from Kavi Subhash to Hemanta Mukhopadhyay stretch: This 5.4 km stretch has been built at a cost of Rs 1,435 crore. The five stations on this stretch have been named after luminaries like film maestro Satyajit Ray, writer Jyotirindra Nandi, poets Sukanta Bhattacharya and Subhash Mukhopadhyay and famous singer Hemanta Mukhopadhyay.

This Metro Corridor will decongest the busy Eastern Metropolitan Bypass and reduce travel time between Kavi Subhash and Rabi Thakur More. Commuters from Howrah, Hooghly and North 24 Parganas on the Blue Line will be able to avail of the Metro services of the Orange Line with the same tokens and smart cards by just interchanging at Kavi Subhash station with the help of the integrated ticketing system.

The Metro project from New Garia (Kavi Subhash) – Airport (Biman Bandar) was sanctioned in 2010-11 as an elevated corridor at a cost of Rs 3,952 crore and the revised sanctioned cost is Rs 8,964 crore. Metro work between New Garia to the airport is under construction and the main work on the 5.4 km section from New Garia to Hemanta Mukhopadhyay has been completed with Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) authorisation on February 7, 2023, by One Train Only System. This section was inaugurated on Wednesday.