Kolkata Metro is working on the historic project, under which for the first time in the country, the metro will run under the river Ganga. Not only this, if all goes well, then by January next year, the country will also get the second deepest metro station in Asia. This ambitious project is now in its final stages.
Under the East-West Metro project, the metro will run from under the Ganges (Hooghly) river under the ambitious metro project connecting Kolkata’s Salt Lake Sector-5 to Howrah Maidan. This is the first metro project of its kind in the country. With this, Howrah city will get the second deepest metro station in Asia by January next year.
The metro station being built just below the Howrah station is special in many ways. According to the officials, this metro station will be 33 meters below the ground. It is worth noting that at present the deepest metro station in Asia is in Hong Kong, whose depth is about 60 meters. That is, Howrah station will be the second deepest metro station in Asia after Hong Kong.
The East-West Metro project is 16.55 km long. An area of about 10.81 km of this project will be underground while 5.74 km of rail line will be elevated (upper part). There will be a total of 12 stations on this line. The route after Howrah station on this line will pass under the Hooghly river to reach Mahakaran (Writers) metro station in Kolkata. With the help of this, the busiest stations of the country like Howrah and Sealdah will also be directly connected to the Metro service. This will greatly benefit lakhs of passengers. Metro service has already started in some parts.
Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation GM (Admin) AK Nandi said, the work on the East West Metro project will be completed by January 2023. Metro tunnel under Hooghly river has also been ready. The work of Howrah Maidan and Howrah Metro Station has also been almost completed. Now the work is going on in the final stage. By January next year, Metro services up to Howrah Maidan will start for common passengers.
