New Automated Fare Collection gates to be installed at Esplanade Metro Stn

Kolkata: New Automated Fare Collection (AFC) gates will be installed at the Esplanade Metro Station. According to an official, the work of installing these gates will be completed in a day or two.

A senior official of Metro Railway said that the new gates will have updated technology. When asked if new AFC gates will be installed in all North-South Corridor, it was told that they are being installed as per requirement.

The older AFC-PC gates were installed 10-15 years back. However, sources said that the new AFC gates at Esplanade Metro Station will also come in handy while integrating the East-West Metro Corridor with North-South Metro Corridor.

The East-West Corridor will connect Howrah Maidan to Salt Lake Sector-V via Esplanade. Sealdah to Salt Lake Sector V stretch is already functioning while the work on Howrah Maidan to Esplanade is still going on. The implementing agency, Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited (KMRCL) was expecting to commission the Howrah Maidan-Esplanade stretch of East-West Metro Corridor by the end of December this year.

Earlier, KMRCL MD V K Srivastava had told the media that the work on this stretch was almost complete and they were planning to approach the commissioner of Railway safety by November and start commercial service at the end of December. Meanwhile, work is going on in the Esplanade to Sealdah stretch of the Corridor and the agency plans on completing it by June 2024.

Recently, General Manager of Metro Railway P Uday Kumar Reddy had conducted inspection of the Howrah Maidan to Esplanade stretch of East-West Metro Corridor (Green Line).