Kolkata: PM Modi Inaugurates India's First Underwater Metro
PM Modi inaugurates India's first underwater metro in Kolkata, a significant infrastructure milestone despite construction delays due to technical challenges.
PM Modi on Wednesday inaugurated India's first underwater metro service of Kolkata’s Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section on 6th March 2024. It connects Howrah located on the east side of the Hooghly river and Salt Lake city located in the west. It is built at a cost of ?4,965 crore. PM Modi was welcomed by a huge crowd at Esplanade metro station. People chanted 'Jai Shri Ram' and 'Modi Modi', in Kolkata. He was accompanied by West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar along with state Leader of Opposition (LoP) and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari But, the inauguration was not attended by West Bengal Chief Minister & Trinamool Congress founder & leader - Mamata Banerjee. After the inauguration, PM Modi traveled in the metro with a group of school students. He was seen enjoying his journey and even interacted with the students and the metro staff. The Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section is being regarded as an engineering marvel and represents a major milestone in India’s infrastructure & technological development. The section has a total of 6 stations out of which 3 are underground beneath the mighty Hooghly River. The construction & inauguration of Kolkata’s metro section has also made the Howrah metro station the deepest metro station in India. The total route of this metro is 16.6 km long out of which 10.8 km is underground. Out of this 10.8 km, 4.8 km is the underwater tunnel which is 32 meters below the water levels. It also has a 44-meter ventilation-cum-evacuation shaft. The work for tunneling under the Hooghly River started in 2017. The project suffered long delays because of an aquifer burst in August 2019. An aquifer is a body of rock and/or sediment that holds groundwater. This caused severe flooding and ground sinking. Apart from this 2 water leakage incidents occurred during the tunneling and construction work in 2022. Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) conducted test runs through the underwater tunnel as part of trials in April 2023 which happened for the first time in India. The said metro section will be opened for the public in 7 -10 days with trains running at an interval of 12 minutes or less. So, next time you’re in Kolkata, don’t forget to travel in India's first underwater metro service.
