‘Metro to open 5 major projects by this year’

KOLKATA: Metro Railway looks forward to the inauguration of five projects by this year. General Manager of Metro Railway Arun Arora said that these extensions and opening of new routes will be this year’s “Puja” gift to the the city.

New Garia to Hemanta Mukherjee stretch of New Garia to Airport via Rajarhat Metro project (Orange Line) has already been inspected by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS). Arora has said that they are expecting to receive clearance from CRS.

Once the Kavi Subhash to Hemanta Mukherjee stretch of New Garia to Airport becomes operational, commuters will be able to take a transit Metro train from Kavi Subhash without having to change their token or smart card. Thus making the movement of commuters smooth and hassle-free. For this system to be introduced, necessary changes in the software of Metro’s smart gates will be done. A proposal has also been sent to the Railway Board to finalise the fare list for this stretch.

This stretch will be further extended to Salt Lake Sector-V in October 2023. In the same month, the Noapara to Bimanbandar stretch of Noapara-Bimanbandar-Barasat Metro project (yellow line) will also be inaugurated. Commercial services on the purple line from Joka to Taratala have already started. This service will be extended from Taratala to Majherhat by October 2023.

Metro Railway has also fixed a target for the expansion of metro services from Sealdah to Howrah Maidan by December of this year.