Piyush Goyal, the Union Rail Minister recently informed that India’s first underwater rail project will soon get operational in Kolkata. This project is better known as the East-West metro project and a twin tunnel is being constructed below the Hoogly river that will connect Howrah and Mahakaran stations.
Railway minister on his twitter account wrote the first underwater train of India will soon start in Kolkata’s Hoogly river. An excellent example of engineering, this train service is the result of continuous development in country’s railways. This service will not only be beneficial for the residents of Kolkata but will be a proud achievement for the country as well.
KMRC i.e. the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation is a Government of India enterprise and this East-West metro corridor is designed to have six corridors that will have 6 underground and 6 elevated metro stations.
The interchanging is possible on the already running Howrah and Sealdah railway stations.
Earlier this year, the railway officials informed that the Kolkata East-West Metro will allow 1 million passengers to travel per day by 2035 and also said that the stretch between Salt Lake and Howrah will be functional soon.
The stretch of 16.6-km Kolkata East-West Metro will help approximately one million passengers per day to travel through metro by 2035, a senior Railway official said. This metro rail project is estimated to be completed by 2021 and is the first one to have an underwater tunnel. This will be a twin tunnel of 520-metre and is built 30 metres below the riverbed while connecting on both East and West points.
The first trial run on a section of Kolkata’s East-West Metro route is completed in a flawless manner and the commercial service in the 3-km stretch, between Salt Lake Sector V and the Stadium will be made functional soon.