As the train rolled out on the East-West corridor of Kolkata Metro on April 21, anxiety levels of both railway officials and the passengers were high. Their breath was heavy with anticipation. After all, it was going to be the first train in the country to run 13 metres below the riverbed of a river – Hooghly in this case. It was a trial run. Everyone took a big sigh of relief as things went as per the plan.

Kolkata Metro would soon begin its seven-month-long trials to ensure that by November, when the 4.8 km stretch of the Howrah Maidan to Esplanade turns operational for the public, all safety measures have been tested time and again and there are no glitches.

FIRST PASSENGERS

Employees of Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) and a section of the media were part of the audience of the event touted as the Indian version of Eurostar’s London-Paris corridor. It runs through a tunnel that is 13 metres below the riverbed and 33 metres below ground level. A Metro train with six coaches ferried them from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade and back.

Metro Railway General Manager P Uday Kumar Reddy, while inaugurating the stretch on April 12, had termed the success “historic”. Only four stations- Esplanade, Mahakaran, Howrah, and Howrah Maidan are ready on the new stretch, and it will take 45 seconds to cross 520 metres stretch of tunnel under the Hooghly river.

FASTEST OPTION

When operational, it will cut down travel time between Howrah and Sealdah to 40 minutes from 1.5 hours by road. It will also ease traffic congestion at both ends.

The exercise on the green line of the Kolkata Metro was undertaken after it scripted history on April 12 when its rake ran through the tunnel under the Hooghly for the first time in the country.

UNDER HOOGHLY

The East-West Metro corridor connecting Howrah Maidan and Sector V, the Information Technology hub in Salt Lake, is partially operational – between Sealdah and Sector V stations. From November it will cover the 520-metre stretch under the Hooghly river in 45 seconds, from the eastern metropolis to Howrah on the other side of the river.

“This was a joyride we organized today,” A K Nandy, general manager, administration, Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation told the media after the April 20 run. Completion of the total project has been delayed owing to accidents in Bowbazar area of central Kolkata.

NOT A CAKEWALK

The construction of the tunnel from Howrah Maidan to the Esplanade was not a cakewalk. There were several challenges as it passes through very congested areas along the Brabourne Road in the Burrabazar area, with several century-old houses there had to shift residents to hotels during underground work there.

Out of the 16.6-km length of East-West Metro, the underground corridor constitutes 10.8 km between Howrah Maidan and Phoolbagan with the tunnel passing below the Hooghly River, while the rest is an elevated corridor, according to an official of KMRC, the executing agency of the East-West Metro corridor.