Slew of plans for passengers' ease at Sealdah station

Kolkata: Kolkata East-West Metro is giving special emphasis on Sealdah station considering the huge number of passengers converging at one place.

A separate underpass will be constructed to connect Sealdah railway station and Sealdah metro station. The Sealdah station observes nearly 12 lakh footfall on a normal day.

However, during Durga puja the rush of passengers goes up to 15 lakhs. Every year, the Eastern Railway runs Durga Puja special trains to cater the rush of passengers.

As per plans, Sealdah metro station will also have three platforms in a bid to give avoid harassment of passengers during technical snag. It will also have 18 escalators and five lifts.

While, the Kolkata Metro East-West corridor is 16.6 km long stretching from Salt Lake Sector V and Howrah Maidan, the prime attraction is the underwater tunnel that will go beneath the Hooghly river.

According to sources, the East-West Metro corridor is expected to make its commercial run from Sector V metro station to the Salt Lake Stadium metro station soon.

The rail tracks have already been laid.

"The project is being implemented by Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. We have conducted the trial run from Sector V metro station to the Salt Lake Stadium metro station, It will be thrown open to the common public soon," said an official. It might be mentioned that six stations in the route that include Sector V, Karunamoyee, Central Park, City Centre, Bengal Chemical and Salt Lake Stadium.

East-West Metro corridor will connect two iconic Indian Railways stations – Howrah Junction railway station (HWH) and Sealdah railway station (SDAH). Trains moving between Howrah metro station and Mahakaran (iconic Writers' Building) metro station pass through underwater river tunnel.