East-West Metro project: East-bound tunnel from Esplanade to Sealdah completed

Kolkata: The East-West Metro project achieved another significant milestone on Friday with the east-bound tunnel from Esplanade to Sealdah being completed. The tunnel boring machine (TBM) Urvi will now be relaunched at Sealdah to complete the rest of the 800 m tunnel from Sealdah to Bowbazar in west-bound route.

"This is a historic occasion as the entire east-bound metro line from Salt Lake Sector V to Howrah Maidan across the river is now connected. Only 800 m of tunnelling of the west-bound line is balance now. Structural works of all remaining 5 underground stations have been completed. Architectural finishes, entry-exit structure and system works are in progress," said a senior official of Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation Ltd (KMRCL), the implementing agency of the East-West Metro project.

Rupak Sarkar, Chief Operating Officer of ITD Cementation India Ltd which has executed the tunnel boring work informed about the challenges faced during creation of the east-bound tunnel which is 2.45 km long. "We had to pass through the crossing point of the existing North-South metro in Esplanade, 178 old and dilapidated building and Sealdah flyover. A total of 670 buildings were under the influence zone of the tunnelling work. 25 of the buildings under which the TBM passed were in very severe condition. The residence of some of these buildings needed to be shifted and temporary arrangements for their lodging was made by KMRCL," said Sarkar.

Some of the important structures under which TBM Urvi passed include KMC building, Futnani Chamber, Rani Rashmoni Building, Calcutta Technical School to name a few.

Urvi that was launched below ground at Esplanade in February 2019 had completed its gruelling underground journey after 21 months. There were three temporary stoppages- for ground disturbance at Bowbazar, due to lockdown as a preventive measure for

COVID -19 pandemic and after some of the workers executing the project was affected by Coronavirus.

"The reverse journey of Urvi will also be challenging but we will be taking all precautionary measures so that it achieves success. The entire East-West Corridor project of 16.55 km (between Sector-V and Howrah Maidan) is expected to be completed by the end of next year," an official said.