Life under the river: How the east–west metro is redrawing Kolkata’s daily map

KOLKATA: Imagine slipping beneath a large stream successful the comfortableness of an air-conditioned metro cutting hours of question into minutes and reshaping the regular bushed of a city. This is present portion of mundane beingness successful Kolkata acknowledgment to the East–West Metro, the city’s 2nd metro line, besides known arsenic the Green Line.

The city’s archetypal metro, the North–South corridor (Blue Line), opened successful October 1984, making Kolkata the archetypal Indian metropolis to person a metro, a rubric it held until Delhi Metro launched its archetypal enactment successful 2002.

A caller transition nether a historical river

The East–West Metro runs 17 km from Sector V successful Salt Lake connected the eastbound to Howrah Maidan connected the westbound slope of the Hooghly River. A cardinal diagnostic of this enactment is its underwater tunnel: a 520-metre agelong beneath the river, India’s archetypal transport passageway of its kind.Trains tally astir 16 metres beneath the riverbed, portion the Howrah presumption connected this way is present India’s deepest, built astir 30 metres underground.The metro has transformed commuting for lakhs of residents betwixt Salt Lake and Howrah, arsenic good arsenic hundreds of thousands from the suburbs who entree the work via Howrah and Sealdah railway stations 2 of the busiest successful India, serving astir 20 lakh passengers daily.

Engineering against the odds

Construction of the Green Line stretched implicit much than a decade.

River tunnelling was completed successful a grounds 67 days successful 2017. Engineers had to excavation done soft, unpredictable alluvial ungraded and physique waterproof passageway linings designed to past implicit 120 years.Central Kolkata, peculiarly Bowbazar, posed important challenges. Ground subsidence and h2o ingress disrupted tunnelling, delaying parts of the task for years earlier the stream crossing could beryllium completed. The duplicate tunnels were excavated utilizing world unit balancing passageway boring machines, cutting done predominantly stiff clayey silt beneath the riverbed.

Interestingly, the underwater passageway is not a caller idea. Sir Harley Dalrymple-Hay, a Birbhum-born British engineer, drafted plans for an underwater railway successful Kolkata arsenic acold backmost arsenic 1921.From trials to regular routine

After years of operation and testing, the East–West Metro opened for commercialized work successful March 2024. Thousands of commuters boarded the archetypal trains with excitement arsenic the Green Line began stitching the metropolis unneurotic successful a caller way.Within the archetypal 15 days, astir 53,570 passengers utilized the Esplanade–Howrah Maidan agelong regular — equivalent to removing hundreds of autobus trips from metropolis roads. Many commuters switched from cabs and cars to the metro for speed, comfort, and reliability. On the precise archetypal nationalist day, implicit 70,000 passengers rode the under-river section.

The underwater travel itself takes conscionable 45 seconds. Where the autobus thrust crossed Howrah Bridge utilized to instrumentality 3-4 minutes connected a fortunate time against 15-20 minutes successful vigor and congestion during unreserved hours and sometimes up to an hr oregon much during governmental rallies and protests, commuters present question successful air-conditioned comfort.

The travel from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade takes hardly 8 minutes by the metro. This would instrumentality a minimum of 30-40 minutes by bus. Metro that changes regular life

For thousands successful Kolkata and Howrah, the Green Line has go portion of mundane life.Shorter commutes: Travelling betwixt Kolkata and Howrah present takes minutes alternatively of hours.Comfort and reliability: Unlike roadworthy transport, the metro provides air-conditioned comfortableness and predictable question times, easing accent during highest hours.

Beyond convenience, the East–West Metro addresses broader municipality challenges. It reduces postulation congestion, lowers aerial pollution, and offers a much sustainable commute. “Howrah and Kolkata person ever been duplicate cities, but crossing the Hooghly was a pain. The East–West Metro has changed that — Howrah present genuinely feels similar a duplicate city,” said Ruby Saha, a Howrah resident.

Suburban commuters besides benefit. Local bid passengers arriving astatine Howrah Station tin present interchange straight to the Green Line, avoiding crowded autobus stands and congested roads.Crowding concerns connected older lines

The occurrence of the East–West Metro has accrued unit connected the North–South Blue Line, operational since 1984. Daily trains present transportation much passengers, particularly during evening peaks, sometimes causing overcrowding. Commuters study longer waits to board, peculiarly aft the Green Line conception opened.

While the Esplanade–Howrah Maidan agelong is afloat operational, enactment continues to implicit the 16.6-kilometre corridor from Sector V to Howrah.

About 65% of the enactment runs done underground duplicate tunnels, including the 520-metre stream crossing, with the remainder mostly connected elevated viaducts. This under-river passageway is India’s archetypal proscription passageway beneath a river.A strategy built for interchange

The Green Line intersects the Blue Line astatine Esplanade, allowing passengers to question northbound to Dakshineswar oregon southbound to New Garia. Blue lights on the passageway people the under-river stretch, making the travel visually absorbing for commuters betwixt Howrah and Mahakaran stations.Transforming the city’s geography

The East–West Metro has reshaped Kolkata’s regular map. By connecting antecedently separated neighbourhoods beneath the Hooghly, it links residential areas with IT hubs, concern districts, and railway stations. Dependence connected aboveground transport has reduced, c emissions person dropped, and question is much predictable. For many, commuting has go faster, much comfortable, and little stressful.Today, the underwater metro is not conscionable transport — it is simply a surviving portion of Kolkata’s rhythm, redefining however hundreds of thousands statesman and extremity their regular journeys.