Historic Moment of India as Kolkata Metro does successful trial under water

P Uday Kumar Reddy, general manager of Metro Railway, called it “an historic event,” adding that “trial runs between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade station will be conducted for the next five to seven months, following which regular services on this stretch will begin.”The tunnel, which is 33 metres below ground level and 13 metres below the riverbed, is the Indian equivalent of the London-Paris corridor of Eurostar.It will take 45 seconds to cross the tunnel and contains four stations: Esplanade, Mahakaran, Howrah, and Howrah Maidan.

The 520-meter tunnel is a section of Kolkata’s East West Metro Corridor, which spans the river from Salt Lake Sector V, the city’s IT sector, to Howrah Maidan, in the west.The Howrah to Sealdah metro route reduces the distance travelled from 1.5 hours to 40 minutes. Additionally, it will reduce traffic at both ends.As it goes through heavily populated regions along the Brabourne Road in the Burrabazar district, the tunnel construction from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade had to deal with a number of difficulties, including the relocation of residents of several century-old homes there to hotels during subterranean work there.12 structures at Madan Dutta Lane in Bowbazar also developed fractures due to subsurface water seepage last year.