KMRCL's managing director inspects East-West Metro's tunnel boring

Satish Kumar, managing director Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRCL) on Saturday inspected the progress of the construction of a tunnel under the river Hooghly of the East-West Metro project.

The East West Metro project from Howrah to Sector V in Salt Lake is being constructed by the KMRCL. Two tunnel boring machines (TBM) are working for the construction of two tunnels. The East-bound TBM has done 1,351 m tunneling including 219 m below river Hooghly. This TBM is expected to cross river Hooghly by the end of May. The West-bound TBM has done 891m of tunneling and working at the location of proposed underground Howrah station. This TBM is expected to reach river Hooghly by June.

The work to construct underground stations at Howrah Maidan and Howrah and Sealdah stations are in full swing and the one at Phoolbagan is near completion.

The construction of the underground station at Esplanade has begun after getting clearance from the Defence authorities. The work at Mahakaran underground station will start only after getting a nod from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). As there are several buildings, many of which are more than 200 years old, ASI is carefully studying whether the impact of the construction of the underground station could affect the old structures.

Work for elevated stations at Salt Lake Sector V, Karunamoyee, Central Park, City Centre, Bengal Chemicals and Salt Lake stadium are in advanced stage. Senior KMRCL officials expressed satisfaction over the progress of work.