India’s first underwater metro project of Kolkata metro is likely to be completed by December 2023. The East-West corridor project will pass through the Hooghly river and connect the two cities Howrah and Kolkata.
The Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) said, India’s first underwater metro service, the East-West corridor project is expected to be completed by December 2023.
The East-West corridor of the Kolkata Metro project is 15 Km-long and spans from Salt Lake Stadium to Howrah. The East-West corridor will pass through the Hooghly river and connect the two cities Howrah and Kolkata. It will be a great relief for commuters.
It costs around ₹120 crore per kilometre to build the tunnel, and for the underwater tunnel costs around 157 crores per kilometre, as per ANI reports.
The Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) general manager civil Shailesh Kumar said: “The ongoing underwater tunnel project is likely to be completed by December 2023.” Regarding the delay in completing the East-West corridor he also added, “Some rehabilitation works are in process and other issues are delaying the completion of the underwater metro project.”
The metro service in Kolkata started in 1984. But, there are some places in Kolkata where the metro services were not available. Currently the metro corporation said this project will help to provide metro service to the entire city of Kolkata.
The Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation has faced all the difficulties in making the tunnel with the help of German machines and the best experts. Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation official said, “We have taken foreign experts in tunnelling projects, currently we are using machines from abroad (German) to make the difficult task easier.”
The metro project will help to reduce the time of travel for commuters and will connect the two busy Railway Station Howrah and Sealdah as well as the north-south line of the Kolkata Metro at Esplanade.
