India to soon conduct trial run of its first underwater metro

India is gearing up to conduct the first trial run of the underwater metro train in Kolkata. Under West Bengal's Hooghly River, tunnels have been constructed for the trial.

Two tunnels have been constructed between the East-West Metro Corridor, which connects Sector V in Salt Lake to Howrah Maidan, beneath the Hooghly.

The Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) had scheduled a Sunday trial run on one part of this route, however, the officials abruptly postponed it.

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The corporation stated that they will soon conduct the trial run. In the trial run, a metro train having two to six coaches will travel the 4.8 km-long stretches between Esplanade and Howrah Maidan.

In 1984, the first metro in the nation was also inaugurated in Kolkata city. The metro started running in New Delhi in 2002, much later than in Kolkata.

The metro train will run at a speed of 80km/h in the tunnels carved out from the Hooghly riverbed. It will take less than a minute to cover the passage beneath the river.

The 16 km long rail route has underground sections spread over 10.8 km length. The part of the river, which is downstream, is also included.

The metro train will be 13 metres beneath the Hooghly River’s bed and the Howrah metro station will be 33 deep, making it the deepest station in the country. The tunnel will have exists for emergencies like earthquakes.

Approximately, 157 crores have been spent per kilometre to construct an underwater tunnel inside the Hooghly River.

According to the report, the commercial service's commencement will depend on the success of the trials. The KMRC had earlier stated that India's first underwater metro service, called the East-West Metro Corridor project, is likely to get completed by December 2023.

KMRC General Manager Civil Shailesh Kumar said, “The ongoing underwater tunnel project is likely to be completed by December 2023. Some rehabilitation works are in process and other issues are delaying the completion of the underwater metro project.”

The East-West corridor of Kolkata Metro is 15 kilometres long and stretches from Howrah to Salt Lake City Stadium.

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Along the metro route from Salt Lake Sector 5 to Salt Lake Stadium, the metro stations will be present at Karunamayee, Central Park, City Centre and Bengal Chemical.

Esplanade station, which falls in the Kolkata Metro’s North-South line, will be linked by the railway stations in Sealdah and Howarah under the project.

The underwater metro of India has been compared to the Eurostar, which connects Paris and London.

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