 "Another feather on Kolkata's cap: Trial run of India's first under-water metro to begin from April 9")
synopsis
If all goes well, two Metro trains will chug along the twin tunnels below the Hooghly this Sunday, marking India's much-awaited maiden under-river journey. It will be another honour for Kolkata, which was the first Indian city to get a Metro in October 1984.
This Sunday will mark the beginning of the first underwater Metro Rail trial run in India beneath the river Hooghly that flows past Kolkata. According to Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) officials, two six-coach rakes will speed down the twin tunnels between Esplanade and Howrah Maidan, making it the first time that trains will run under a river in India.
A year ago, the 4.8 km tunnel between Esplanade on the Hooghly's east bank and Howrah Maidan on its west bank was finished, but the KMRC officials had to wait till the 2.5 km segment between Sealdah and Esplanade was finished before beginning commercial operations.
It has been decided to begin operations between Esplanade and Howrah Maidan, rather of waiting for all development on the Sealdah-Esplanade section to be finished, despite the 2.5 km length between Sealdah and Esplanade still needing to be finished.
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Due to three significant subsidences near Bowbazar since August 2019, work on this segment has experienced many and lengthy delays.
The two rakes for Sunday’s trial will be transported from the Metro Rail’s Salt Lake depot to Esplanade through the east-bound tunnel between Sealdah and Esplanade.
The twin tunnels under the Hooghly are at a depth of 520 m. The Howrah Metro station will be the country’s deepest at 33 m below ground level. The East-West Metro between Salt Lake Sector V and Howrah Maidan, also called the ‘Green Line’, stretches over 16.6 kilometres. Services between Salt Lake Sector V and Seladah have already commenced.
If all goes according to plan, commercial operations between Esplanade and Howrah Maidan will start in a few months, according to KMRC officials. Kolkata was the first city to get a Metro Rail in October 1984, nearly 18 years before the country’s second Metro Rail started operating in Delhi in December 2002
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