About 4.5 lac commuters travel Kolkata Metro Greenline till March since beginning of underwater commercial operation

Kolkata, Apr 23 (Representative) Some 4.5 lac commuters have travelled through the underwater stretch of Green Line in 17 days since thecommercial operation began on March 15 connecting this metropolis with Howrah, the other part of River Hooghly, Kolkata Metro Railway source said on Tuesday. The loco engineering marvel, connecting Esplanade in the eastern part of Hooghly, the hub of this over 300-year-old city with industrial Howrah in the western part, has been a hit from mid-March, barely nine days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the maiden ride with the Metro workers and school students on March 6.Using the interchanging station at Esplanade, passengers from Kavi Subhash, Kalighat, Dum Dum and Dakshineswar have now been easily availing Green Line 2 services to reach places like Howrah, Howrah Maidan and Mahakaran (Writers’ Buildings, formerly the state secretariat), Metro Railway spokesmanKausik Mitra said.“ This interconnection of Blue Line and Green Line has saved the timeof these passengers and also has been offering smooth and hiccup freeservices to the passengers coming from the far-flung areas of Southand North 24 Parganas, Hooghly etc. Out of these 4.5 lakh passengers,2.32 lakh passengers have terminated their journey at Esplanade fromdifferent stations of Blue Line, “ he clarified. In order to make this interchange smoother and more flexible, queuemanagers have been installed at Esplanade Metro station to ensureseamless interchange ofpassengers between Old Esplanade station (Blue Line) and New Esplanadestation (Green Line 2).

These allow all passengers to move freely. Strategic installation of these queue managers has also eliminated thepossibility of mixing Green Line 2 and Blue Line bound passengers.This along with numerous banners and stickers already put in placehave immensely benefited the passengers to find their suitableentry/exit points, escalators as well as trains smoothly. Metro staffand RPF personnel have been working in tandem to ensure free and fastinterchange of passengers at Esplanade, specially during the peakhours. Meanwhile, construction work of the underground Mominpur -Esplanadestretch of Joka-Esplanade Metro Corridor (Purple Line) got underway. In order to construct this stretch, a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) willbe used to burrow the tunnels, Mitra added. For tunnelling the first stretch from Kidderpore to Victoria station, TBM will start working from inside the premises of St. Thomas Schoolat Khidderpore. For this, a launching shaft is required whoseconstruction work at St. Thomas School is going o­n at present. Oncethis work is completed, TBM will start functioning to burrow theunderground tunnels. The Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), the executing agency, has alreadygot the clearance certificate from West Bengal Forest Department toplant 145 new treesat Joka Metro Railway Depot in lieu of 28 trees at the site ofVictoria station. The RVNL has already planted these trees at JokaDepot.

At present, this agency is waiting for the NOC from the Forest Department for transplantation of these 28 trees. It is expected thatthis NOC will be obtained shortly.For construction of Park Street station of this stretch, Calcutta Police Club, Calcutta Kennel Club and Rajasthan Club will be relocatedtemporarily outside the construction zone.For the normal operation ofthese clubs during the construction period, porta-type containers inthe adjacent vacant land will be provided.Five such containers havealready been installed o­n the adjacent vacant land at Park Street. Rest of the containers will be installed shortly.For the construction of Esplanade Metro station, Kolkata MountedPolice Paddock will be relocated temporarily to Saheed Minar Maidan. No Objection Certificate from the Defence Authority has already beenobtained.For the construction of proposed Esplanade station, Manohardas Tarag at Esplanade will be dewatered to pave the way forconstruction of tunnels below it with the help of Cut and CoverMethod. o­nce the construction is over, this famous waterbody ofKolkata will be reinstated. Public Works Department has already handedover this waterbody to RVNL for this project.