Kolkata: Good news for the Kolkatans. The entire stretch of East-West Metro is likely to be complete by March 2022 as the Central government on Wednesday approved the Ministry of Railways' proposal for revised cost estimate of Rs 8574.98 crore.
While the initial project cost calculated in 2009 was Rs 4,874, it was again revised at Rs 6500. The project envisages construction of a Metro Corridor between Salt Lake Sector-V to Howrah Maidan in West Bengal for a total route length of 16.6 kms.
The project includes immense technological challenges like the tunnel below river Ganges which is the first transportation tunnel in India under any major river as well as Howrah Station. Once operational, the East West Metro is expected to cater nine lakh commuters on a daily basis.
"The pre-pandemic target for completion of their project was December, 2021. Efforts are being taken to minimise the impact of pandemic on completion of the project," said an official of Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation, the implementing agency of East-West Metro.
He reiterated that the tunnel boring machine (TBM) Urvi coming from Esplanade via B B Ganguly Street will reach the Sealdah metro station on Friday. "One side of the tunnel boring work (from Howrah Maidan to Salt Lake Sector Sector V) will be complete on Friday," pointed out the official.
While TBM Chandi became redundant after hitting against an aquifer last year on August 31, its twin Urvi took up the task of burrowing the remaining portion covering a length of around 1.8 km.
The first phase of East-West Metro connecting the city's tech hub of Salt Lake Sector V with the Yuva Bharati Krirangan (Salt Lake Stadium) was inaugurated on February 13, 2020.
East West Metro's first underground station Phoolbagan was thrown open to the public on Monday.
The entire stretch from Salt Lake Stadium station to Phoolbagan metro station is 1.665 kms with a Standard Gauge Double line.
The travel time from Phoolbagan to Salt Lake Sector V by metro is 16 minutes. However, the passenger will take around 45 minutes if he/she goes by road transport.