KOLKATA: Metro Railway general manager Manoj Joshi, who also recently took over charge of Eastern Railway (ER), assured of major progress in the city’s ongoing Metro projects over the next two years. While services till Dakshineswar on the north-south line are expected to start by the end of February, after some more trials, the Sealdah station of the East-West corridor will be thrown open by the end of 2021, Joshi said.
“If all goes as planned, the overhead stretch of the Joka-BBD Bag Metro corridor should be commissioned in the next two years. We also hope to run services between New Garia and Ruby crossing on the New Garia-Airport line by the end of 2022. There are some issues with the station at the airport that we are working on. An oil pipeline has to be temporarily shifted to complete the Noapara-Airport link,” Joshi said.
The GM also said that work is in progress to introduce a mobile-based ticketing system for the Metro. This would reduce queues at counters and commuters may not have to purchase smartcards either. Joshi also spoke on the recent achievements of ER and railway projects in Bengal. According to him, 153km of electrification of tracks took place in the state in 2019-20. Special attention has been paid to passenger amenities at several stations and infrastructure in important sections. While executive lounges have been provided at stations, a lot of stress is being laid on cleanliness and generation of solar power.
“A total of 298 Shramik Special trains ran to many locations in Bengal, carrying nearly 3.9 lakh people home. To combat Covid, extensive sanitization and disinfection work is underway. Para-medical staff have been specially trained and passengers are being thermally scanned and checked for masks and sanitizers at various stations,” Joshi added.