Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate India’s initial under-river metro tunnel in Kolkata on Wednesday. The tunnel, situated beneath Kolkata’s Hooghly River, will establish a vital link between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade. Key highlights of the Hooghly River underwater tunnel include:
- Kolkata Metro’s Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section features India’s premier transportation tunnel beneath the Hooghly River.
- It forms a part of the East-West Metro, spanning 16.5 km and connecting Howrah on the western bank of the Hooghly to Salt Lake City on the eastern bank. This signifies India’s maiden instance of trains traversing underwater routes.
- Carried out by the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited (KMRCL), 10.8 kilometers of the route are underground, with an additional 5.75 kilometers elevated on a viaduct.
- The primary objective is to alleviate traffic congestion in Kolkata, a city with a rich 300-year history, while also contributing to the reduction of vehicular pollution.
- The Howrah metro station, part of this section, is slated to become India’s deepest metro station.
- According to a report by Live Mint, the metro is expected to traverse the 520-meter stretch under the Hooghly River in an impressive 45 seconds.
- While the completion of the Esplanade-Sealdah stretch is pending, the Salt Lake Sector V to Sealdah stretch is already operational. The entire East-West alignment, covering 16.6 kilometers, is anticipated to begin commercial operations between Salt Lake Sector V and Howrah Maidan by June-July.
- The Kolkata Metro, India’s inaugural metro system and the fifth in Asia, commenced partial commercial operations on October 24, 1984. Initially spanning a distance of 3.40 kilometers with five stations from Esplanade to Netaji Bhavan, as stated on the metro website.
- The concept of an underwater train tunnel can be traced back to the British colonial period. Harley Dalrymple-Hay, a British engineer born in Bengal, conceived an ambitious 10.6-kilometer underground railway connecting Kolkata and Howrah over a century ago, as reported by the BBC. The proposal involved constructing a tunnel beneath the Hooghly River and establishing ten stations. However, due to financial constraints and concerns regarding the city’s soil properties, the project never materialized.
