Metro now runs under Ganges in Kolkata

The metro rail now runs under the Ganges in Kolkata, the capital city of Indian state of West Bengal.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the underwater metro running between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade in Kolkata by hoisting the flag on Wednesday (March 6).

The 4.8 km stretch of East-West metro from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade has been built at a cost of Rs 4,965 crore. It has the deepest metro station in India at Howrah – 30 metres.

After the inauguration, Narendra Modi travelled by the metro rail from Esplanade to Howrah Maidan, accompanied by school going children.

The prime minister also inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of multiple connectivity projects across India from the same occasion.

These include a 5.4km new metro corridor from Kavi Subhash to Hemanta Mukhopadhyay in east Kolkata, a 1.2km extension of the Purple Line metro up to Majerhat, Pune Metro from Ruby Hall Clinic to Ramwadi stretch, Kochi Metro Rail Phase I Extension project (Phase IB) from SN Junction Metro station to Tripunithura Metro station, Agra Metro’s stretch from Taj East Gate to Mankameshwar and Duhai-Modinagar (North) section of Delhi-Meerut RRTS Corridor.

A senior official of Kolkata Metro said that the entire E-W metro corridor between Howrah Maidan to Salt Lake Sector V is expected to be operational soon. This will connect Sealdah and Howrah stations, the two busiest railway stations in India.

“The interior of the tunnels has been specially illuminated with blue lights in a bid to give passengers an impression of an underwater world. At least 40 figures of illuminated fishes have been set up on the interior walls. Plans are also afoot to give some special sound effects in this under-water section,” said the official.

The underwater metro fares start from Rs 5. Passengers have to pay this fare for the first two kilometers of journey. After that starting from 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 maximum fare has been fixed at 50 rupees.

Rs 4,965 crore rupees have been spent on this project. It is part of the East-West Metro Corridor project. The project started from Sector Five of Salt Lake in eastern part of Kolkata and ended at Sealdah.

Kolkata Metro is the first metro system in India which became operational on October 24, 1984.