Underwater Metro: Scores of ecstatic commuters take the ride on first day
Kolkata: Excitement ran high as people in hundreds availed of the newly inaugurated Esplanade to Howrah Maidan stretch of East-West Metro Corridor to witness the engineering marvel and take a joyride underneath the mighty river Hooghly on the first commercial run in the section on Friday. A total of 130 services will be plied on this stretch from Monday to Saturday starting from 7 am till 9:45 pm. Services were available at 12 to 15 minute intervals in both directions. The first day run at 7 am on Friday started with cheers and claps by the commuters who had assembled outside the Metro station from wee hours to get an opportunity to be part of the first commercial run.
If one goes to Howrah station from Esplanade via road, it would take them half an hour to 45 minutes depending on traffic flow. But in the Metro, it would take them about 10 minutes to travel the stretch and reach Esplanade. Time-saving was one of the benefits cited by many commuters. Voicing the same, the station master of Ondagram Station, who was returning home from Howrah Station, said that the Metro will benefit many local train passengers as catching the bus from the station was hectic and time-consuming.
However, commuters cited inconvenience at many points in both Esplanade and Kavi Subhash Metro Station which are crucial changing points from Green Line and Orange Line to Blue Line respectively. They complained that “proper signages were missing at places and that the system could be better to guide them on how to go from Green Line or Orange Line to Blue Line”. On the first day of the commercial run, the operational staff and security forces were getting used to managing the magnanimous crowd. According to the staff present at the Metro station, proper signages will be put in place in the next few days.
Energy ran high in other newly inaugurated Metro lines as well. As time passed, the crowd started increasing at the Orange Line as well. A Hyderabad resident who was taking her parents to a clinic near Kavi Sukanta Metro Station said that the newly built infrastructure was elderly-friendly. A retired Railway official who had taken it upon himself to travel each newly inaugurated line–Kavi Subhash to Hemanta Mukhopadhyay (Ruby) and Taratala to Majerhat. “It is fascinating how the Metro infrastructure has grown in the city. From 1984 to now, the growth is magnificent,” said the retired official. Metro Railway Kolkata is the first Metro system in India, which started its journey on 24 October 1984.
