Commercial Metro services on Joka-Taratala, New Garia-Ruby routes by this yr

Kolkata: Metro has applied for clearance from the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) for starting commercial services between Joka and Taratala along with New Garia to Ruby route. The services are expected to start by this year.

The trial runs for both the Metro lines are currently going on. According to officials, since the signal test is not required at the moment, they believe that getting a clearance after experts have had a look at both the lines won't be much of a problem. The signal test is not required as trains will be running on a "one-train-only" system for both the lines.

On the Joka-Taratala Metro line, there are four stations in-between, including Thakurpukur, Shakherbazar, Behala Chowrasta and Behala Bazar. For now, one train service will start on this line. Going by the speed of the Metro, it would ideally take around 18 minutes to cover this distance.

General manager of Metro Railway Arun Arora had earlier stated that the services were likely to be launched during Kali Puja on October 24.

However, it has been delayed. It can only be started after they get the permission from CRS.