Metro plans expansion of lines from Dakshineswar Station

Kolkata: Metro Railway is planning on expansion of the lines from Dakshineswar Station in order to provide a cross over for the trains. For the expansion, they will need 90 metres and are in contact with the state government for providing the land.

According to Metro Railway General Manager (GM) P Uday Kumar Reddy, the expansion work will also help in widening the roads there, which is currently a traffic bottleneck. “We have submitted a proposal for expansion,” Reddy said.

Meanwhile, Reddy on Friday informed that they have received clearance from the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) for commissioning the Automatic Train Operation (ATO) system in the operational section of East-West Metro Corridor, which is from Sealdah to Salt Lake Sector-V. The GM hoped that the system would be made operational soon.

In ATO mode, Metro will move from one station to the next automatically after long press of ATO Departure push button by the motorman. Train doors and Platform Screen Doors (PSD) will open automatically after arrival at the next station. Motormen will have to press the ‘Door Close’ push button of respective side for closing the train doors and PSD before starting the train. It will enable automatic braking, motoring, coasting and stopping of trains within the specific speed profile. The East-West Metro Corridor is equipped with the Communication Based Train Control System (CBCTC).

The East-West Corridor will connect Howrah Maidan-Salt Lake Sector V.

Reddy said that they are trying to complete the work between Esplanade to Sealdah by June. Once the entire stretch is connected, Esplanade Metro Station will become a crucial interchange point of the North-South and East-West Metro Corridor. To ensure smooth entry and exit, seven new AFC-PC gates have been installed at Esplanade Metro Station, which can handle 45 passengers per minute. These bi-directional gates have already been operational.