Construction of Howrah underground Metro station on in full swing

The Howrah underground Metro station of East West metro is being constructed in full swing between platform numbers 16 and 17 in Howrah station.

A high level meeting to take a stock of the progress of construction was held at the conference hall of Eastern railway on Fairly Place on August 23.

Satish Kumar, additional general manager of Eastern Railway and managing director of the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited (KMRCL) presided over the meeting which was attended by senior officials of Eastern Railway and KMRCL. Stress was given on the timely completion of the project.

It may be mentioned that union Railway minister Suresh Prabhu had assured that the first phase of the East West Metro would be ready by 2018.

The Howrah underground Metro station is planned for a peak passenger load of about 5.5 lakh passengers per day which is expected in 2035.

For catering to such huge passenger load, the station is being designed as double discharge station 

with 12 m wide island platform and 7 m wide both side platforms.

The length of the station will be around 206 m and the total width of the station box will be around 32 m.

The passenger dispersal arrangement and integration with Howrah railway station old and new complex is planned in the form of a grand entrance in the eastern side as well as a secondary entrance at the Western side.

The grand eastern entrance will have two staircases and 10 escalators while in the western side one staircase and two escalators will be installed.

All modern facilities of fire fighting and emergency escape will be provided as per NEPA guidelines.

The passenger area of the station will be fully air conditioned and the station will have platform screen door and other state of the art security systems.

Meanwhile, KMRCL has engaged world famous French engineering consultant Systra MVA for architectural and structural design of the station.

The construction of the station is being done by an Indo Russian consortium.