Kolkata Metro Records Highest Footfall During Festive Season 2019
This festive season, the Kolkata Metro, the first such network in the country, carried record number of commuters, say officials. While the Kolkata Metro recorded the highest footfall of 9.22 lakh commuters on October 3, 2019, it carried 49.5 lakh commuters during the Durga Puja festival. The network earned Rs 4.8 crores during this span, a 10.7 per cent increase from the figures seen in the corresponding period of 2018.
Here’s all you need to know about the Kolkata Metro:
Line-I: The 27.22-km route runs between Noapara and Kavi Subhash, and is known to be country’s first underground railway. This route was first started in 1984, and was later extended in 2013. There are 24 stations on this route of which 15 are underground.
Line-II: Also known as the East-West corridor, Line II is the latest Metro project in Kolkata. The 16.6-km route that is likely to be constructed at an estimated cost of over Rs 4,500 crore will be developed in two phases. The first phase will be 9.4-km in which the 5.8-km elevated stretch will be constructed, too. The remaining 10.8-km of the total stretch will be underground. There will be 12 stations on this route – four elevated and eight underground. This route will also see the country’s first under-water Metro route, wherein the train will pass under the Hooghly River. Recently, Calcutta High Court has stayed tunnelling work for this route till November 7, 2019, after buildings collapsed and developed cracks in the congested Bowbazar area of central Kolkata due to a tunnel-boring machine engaged in the corridor project hit a water table leading to seepage under the foundation of the houses.
Line-III: The 16.72-km route will run between Joka in the south of the city and Esplanade in the central part. There will be 11 stations on this route, construction of which is yet to begin.
Line-IV: The link between Kavi Subhash and the city’s international airport will have 24 stations. The 29.1-km stretch will have 24 stations, connecting the peripheries of the city.
Considering the popularity of this public transport, the Kolkata Metro is set to extend by another 50 km over the next three years as the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) , the agency that has executed most of the Metro projects in the city, has now invited bids for four new routes in the city. The routes include the East-West Metro connection from Howrah Maidan to Sector-V, Kavi Subhash to the airport route and a nine km-stretch from Joka to Majerhat.