Team Blitz India
PRIME Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India’s first underwater Metro service and laid the foundation stone for various projects worth Rs.15,400 crore from Kolkata on March 6. He also took an underwater metro ride with school students in the City of Joy.
The Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section of Kolkata Metro’s EastWest corridor has been built at a cost of Rs ₹4,965 crores. The stretch can also boast of India’s deepest Metro station at Howrah, located 30 meters below ground level.
This corridor connects crucial hubs like the IT hub Salt Lake Sector V, promising unparalleled convenience for commuters. Of the total 16.6 km of the EastWest Metro corridor, 10.8 km is underground, including the tunnel beneath the river. There are 12 stations on the entire route.
Passenger services for the Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section will commence later. PM Modi also flagged off other train services during his visit, focusing on improving urban mobility. These include the Kavi Subhash-Hemanta Mukhopadhyay and Taratala-Majerhat Metro sections.
RRTS corridor PM Modi also dedicated several other connectivity projects to the nation. This included the Pune Metro stretch from Ruby Hall Clinic to Ramwadi, Kochi Metro Rail Phase I Extension project (Phase IB) from SN Junction to Tripunithura, Agra Metro’s Taj East Gate to Mankameshwar stretch, and the Duhai-Modinagar (North) section of Delhi-Meerut RRTS Corridor.
The country has seen rapid development of metro services since 2014, when there was around 250 km of metro trains only. It has now increased significantly to over 900 km in 20 different cities.
