The Union Cabinet has approved a proposal of the Ministry of Railways to complete the Kolkata East-West Metro Corridor Project at a revised cost of ₹8,575 crore.
The project involves construction of a 16.6-km metro corridor between Salt Lake Sector-V, an IT hub, to Howrah Maidan.
“Since this corridor connects the three most important parts of the Kolkata Metropolitan Area — Howrah, the business area, and the new settlements in Salt Lake — it is going to revolutionise the mass rapid transport in Kolkata and adjoining Howrah and Bidhanangar, said an official statement.
Multimodal transport
The project is being implemented by Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Ltd, which is a CPSE under the Ministry of Railways, set up as a special purpose vehicle. It will integrate multiple modes of transport like the metro, suburban railways, ferry and bus by constructing interchange hubs to provide smooth and seamless mode of transport to lakhs of daily commuters, the release said.
Minimising delay
The target for completion of the project was December 2021 prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Efforts are being taken to minimise the impact of pandemic on completion of the project. The project includes immense technological challenges like the tunnel below river Ganges which is the first transportation tunnel in India under any major river as well as Howrah station which is one of the deepest Metro stations in India,” the statement added.