Kolkata Metro Railway (KMR) carried out historic successful test run of two six-coach metro trains under Hooghly river’s underwater tunnel. This is the country’s first-ever underwater Metro.
Key points
The two six-coach trains were readied for trials as part of Kolkata East-West Metro Project and underwent a trial run on the 4.8-kilometer stretch between Esplanade and Howrah Maidan.
- The tunnel — the Indian version of Eurostar’s London-Paris corridor — is 13 metre below the riverbed and 33 metre below ground level.
- It reportedly has four stations- Esplanade, Mahakaran, Howrah, and Howrah Maidan, and will take 45 seconds to cross the tunnel.
- The trial runs in the 4.8 KM underground stretch from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade and will be conducted for the next seven months.
- Once this stretch is open then Howrah will be the deepest Metro station (33 meters below surface) in the country.
- The Metro is expected to cover the 520 meters stretch under the river Hooghly in 45 seconds. This tunnel under the river is 32 metres below the water level, the only of its type in India.
