The metro made it’s first-ever voyage beneath a river in India. To witness this momentous occasion, Metro Rail general manager P Uday Kumar Reddy took rake number MR-612 from Mahakaran to Howrah Maidan station. At 11:55 am, this rake passed the Hooghly River.
Along with other top employees, he was joined on this trip by additional GMs for Metro Railway and Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRCL), as well as MD HN Jaiswal.
Once the rake arrived at Howrah station, Reddy performed pooja there. Rake number MR-613 was afterwards brought to Howrah Maidan station as well.
It was a momentous event, according to the general manager, who also announced that trial runs to Esplanade from Howrah Maidan will be conducted over the course of the next seven months before regular services on this route would start.
All of the KMRCL employees and engineers who worked so hard to make this engineering feat possible were ecstatic that “their dreams have ultimately come true.”
The two metro rakes were transported from Esplanade station to Howrah Maidan station, and shortly the trial runs on the 4.8-km subterranean segment between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade will start. On this length, it is anticipated that commercial services would start this year.
Howrah will be the country’s deepest metro station (33 meters underneath the surface) once this section is completed and operational.
The metro will take 45 seconds to pass over a 520-meter length beneath the Hooghly River. The riverbed lies 32 meters below this tunnel under the water.