[Watch] PM Modi Takes First Ride In Kolkata Underwater Metro With Students; Check Features & Ticket Price

Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a ride through India’s first “underwater Metro tunnel” with school students, after inaugurating the Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section at Mahakaran metro station in Kolkata on Wednesday.

The Kolkata Metro extension, comprising Howrah Maidan-Esplanade Metro section beneath a significant river, marks a pivotal moment in the nation’s infrastructure advancement, putting it amongst the world’s elite metro systems in London, Munich, and Moscow.

According to an official release, the 4.8-km section of the East-West Metro corridor has been constructed with a budget of Rs 4,965 crore. This segment features the deepest Metro station in India, situated at Howrah, at a depth of 30 metres below ground level. This new corridor aims to facilitate seamless connectivity to significant areas, including the IT hub Salt Lake Sector V.

Passenger services on this route are scheduled to commence later this year, according to Central Railways.

MAIN FEATURES

>> The Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section of the Kolkata Metro marks the train’s journey underwater, with the Howrah metro station being the deepest in India.

>> The Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section traverses beneath the Hooghly, connecting Howrah with Salt Lake.

>> The underwater metro has six stations, with three of them underground.

>> The metro is anticipated to cover a 520-metre stretch beneath the Hooghly River in just 45 seconds.

>> Of the entire 16.6 km of the East-West Metro, 10.8 km from Howrah Maidan to Phoolbagan, including the tunnel under the Hooghly River, is located underground. The remaining portion is above the ground.

The ticket price for the underwater metro is just Rs 5 for the first two km. Then, it goes up in easy tiers of Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 15, Rs 20, Rs 25, reaching a maximum of Rs 50, the NDTV reported.

The PM also flagged off other train services during his visit to Kolkata focusing on enhancing avenues for ensuring ease of urban mobility. These include the Kavi Subhash-Hemanta Mukhopadhyay and the Taratala-Majerhat Metro sections.