Smriti Irani inaugurates Sealdah Stn; Metro to ply 100 trains daily to Sec-V

kolkata: The Metro Railway will ply 100 trains daily in a frequency of 15 minutes from Sealdah station to Salt Lake Sector-V from July 14. The Sealdah Metro Station was inaugurated on Monday by Union minister Smriti Irani.

Minister for Women and Child Development and Minorities Irani visited the Sealdah Metro Station at 4:15 pm. She then moved to Howrah Maidan Station and virtually flagged off the first train. In her speech, she wished best to the 35,000 commuters, and the residents of Sealdah and Phoolbagan.

The Metro Station has two entrances — north and south. For the time being, the north entrance which opens at Platform one and two may remain closed and only one entrance may be operational. The station has 23 Automated Fare Collection (AFC) gates. It has five lifts, 12 staircases and 16 escalators to provide ease to the commuters. There are 29 booking counters.

It has 53 surveillance cameras. Security will be provided by the Railway Protection Force. According to one RPF officer, the main floor will have at least 10 RPF personnel in post to secure the two entrances.

The time taken to travel from Sealdah to Saltlake Sector-V by road, which is 1.15 hours, will be reduced to 21 minutes by Metro. The officials said that it will save a considerable amount of commuter's time.

According to the metro officials, the fare from Sealdah to Sector-V is Rs 20 and will remain unchanged from Sealdah to Karunamayi, Central Park and City Center stations. The fare from Sealdah to Salt Lake stadium and Phoolbagan is Rs 10, which is the minimum rate.

However, the Beliaghata auto drivers are not happy with the prospect of losing their passenger base to the metro. "Earlier people who used to travel to Salt Lake would avail auto. But it might fall by at least 25 per cent. Even though the locals will avail auto but the working people crowd might move to metro," said an auto driver.