Railway plans to build subway at Howrah Station
Kolkata: Railway plans to build a subway at Howrah Station to systematise the flow of passengers from Eastern Railway suburban section to the Howrah Metro Station of East-West Metro Corridor.
Metro Railway General Manager P Uday Kumar Reddy said that they observe the traffic flow for a month and accordingly decide and come up with solutions to make the passenger movement further eased. He said that till March 21, the newly-inaugurated section of Green Line i.e. Howrah Maidan to Esplanade, recorded around 3,45,000 footfalls. “Roughly 50,000 per day apart from the first few days of the commercial run which started from March 15,” he said.
On March 22, the General Manager of Eastern Railway Milind K Deouskar and Metro Railway GM had jointly inspected at Howrah Station. They inspected the ongoing construction of approach towards Howrah Metro Railway Station and provision of passenger amenities in the area. Officials of Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation Limited (KMRCL) were also present during the inspection and took note regarding requirements.
Once Esplanade gets connected to Sealdah, the Metro authorities believe that the number of passenger counts will further increase. It may have more passengers compared to the existing Blue line which connects Kavi Subhash to Dakshineswar. The GM said that they are targeting to complete the remaining portion of the Green Line by October.
Howrah Maidan to Esplanade section of Green Line was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 6, along with other Metro lines – Kavi Subhash to Hemanta Mukhopadhyay (Ruby) section of Orange Line and Taratala to Majerhat section of Purple Line.
While the passenger count on the newly-inaugurated Green line remains high as expected, the footfall for the other two lines inaugurated on the same day remains low. Till March 21, Orange Line recorded 8,000 footfall and Purple Line recorded 4,000. When asked whether the footfall in Purple Line has increased with extension of line to Majerhat, GM said: “If the average footfall in the line was 500 before, it has now become 800.”
The Joka to Taratala section of Purple line was initially made operational and the Metro authorities had claimed that with extension to Majerhat the footfall would increase considering the close proximity with Majerhat Railway Station. The Purple Line is supposed to connect Joka to Esplanade. Recently, Defence denied permission to relocate BC Roy Market for construction of Esplanade Metro Station of Purple Line. According to Reddy, it may have to come up elsewhere. He said that they want Esplanade Metro Station to be a point of intersection. As per the plan, the Line will have another interchange point at Park Street.
