Kolkata: The East-West Metro‘s Esplanade-Sealdah section received the safety certificate from the Commission of Railway Safety on Monday, signalling the countdown to operations across Sector V and Howrah Maidan via the river Hooghly. In the run-up to the new section’s and East-West Metro’s full 16.6 km run, services were reduced in the Sealdah-Sector V section on Tuesday. Sources said the BEML-make rakes are being upgraded with the new software that will help run the entire 16.6 km stretch. Therefore, 90 services were run at 20-minute intervals, instead of the usual 106.
The 2.6 km Esplanade-Sealdah section underwent the CRS inspection on Sunday. The approval from the CRS, the independent body under the civil aviation ministry, which clears any new metro line’s operations across India, translated to a major leap foward by the city’s rapid transit system since the Green Line is now fully connected — all set to start its entire 16.6 km journey from Sector V to Howrah Maidan via the Hooghly.
The corridor now runs in two sections — the 9.4 km Sector V-Sealdah or Green Line 1 and the 4.8 km Esplanade-Howrah Maidan or Green Line 2. The in-between 2.6 km Esplanade-Sealdah section will link the two disjointed sections, and East-West Metro will start functioning as one continuous Green Line.
The seven-page authorization for revenue operations of the Esplanade-Sealdah section is replete with observations by Sumeet Singhal, commissioner of railway safety, North-East Frontier Circle, Kolkata. The CRS’s nod is valid for six months within which all the obervations made by CRS will have to be fulfilled and the new line launched. If not, the authorities will have to apply for fresh CRS validation.
The CRS approval has come as a great relief for officials of Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC), the implementing agency, and Metro Railway, which runs the city’s rapid transit network. This has been the shortest and most challenging phase of the East-West Metro. The Esplanade-Sealdah section passes through the subsidence-prone Bowbazar, below which a tunnel borer struck a sand aquifer, causing extensive subsidence on Aug 31, 2019. At least 25 buildings collapsed, and several others were damaged, with more than 700 residents from the serpentine lanes of Bowbazar’s Durga Pituri Lane, Sykrapara Lane, and Hidaram Banerjee Lane displaced five years ago.
Subsidence recurrences in May and Oct 2022 led to more displacement, slowing down the Sealdah-Howrah Maidan section further. Currently, around 400 Bowbazar residents are living in flats rented by contractors ITD ITD-Cementation. KMRC has started rebuilding their homes at Durga Pituri Lane, also called the Ground Zero of the cave-in zone.
Last year, the authorities decided to skip the Esplanade-Sealdah section because of slow work progress and had the 4.8 km Esplanade-Howrah Maidan commissioned by PM Narendra Modi on March 6. Six months later, yet another water seepage in Sept displaced 50 residents.
The 2.6 km Esplanade-Sealdah section underwent the CRS inspection on Sunday. The approval from the CRS, the independent body under the civil aviation ministry, which clears any new metro line’s operations across India, translated to a major leap foward by the city’s rapid transit system since the Green Line is now fully connected — all set to start its entire 16.6 km journey from Sector V to Howrah Maidan via the Hooghly.
The corridor now runs in two sections — the 9.4 km Sector V-Sealdah or Green Line 1 and the 4.8 km Esplanade-Howrah Maidan or Green Line 2. The in-between 2.6 km Esplanade-Sealdah section will link the two disjointed sections, and East-West Metro will start functioning as one continuous Green Line.
The seven-page authorization for revenue operations of the Esplanade-Sealdah section is replete with observations by Sumeet Singhal, commissioner of railway safety, North-East Frontier Circle, Kolkata. The CRS’s nod is valid for six months within which all the obervations made by CRS will have to be fulfilled and the new line launched. If not, the authorities will have to apply for fresh CRS validation.
The CRS approval has come as a great relief for officials of Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC), the implementing agency, and Metro Railway, which runs the city’s rapid transit network. This has been the shortest and most challenging phase of the East-West Metro. The Esplanade-Sealdah section passes through the subsidence-prone Bowbazar, below which a tunnel borer struck a sand aquifer, causing extensive subsidence on Aug 31, 2019. At least 25 buildings collapsed, and several others were damaged, with more than 700 residents from the serpentine lanes of Bowbazar’s Durga Pituri Lane, Sykrapara Lane, and Hidaram Banerjee Lane displaced five years ago.
Subsidence recurrences in May and Oct 2022 led to more displacement, slowing down the Sealdah-Howrah Maidan section further. Currently, around 400 Bowbazar residents are living in flats rented by contractors ITD ITD-Cementation. KMRC has started rebuilding their homes at Durga Pituri Lane, also called the Ground Zero of the cave-in zone.
Last year, the authorities decided to skip the Esplanade-Sealdah section because of slow work progress and had the 4.8 km Esplanade-Howrah Maidan commissioned by PM Narendra Modi on March 6. Six months later, yet another water seepage in Sept displaced 50 residents.
