Kolkata, March 6, 2024

Another feather is being added to the cap of Kolkata Metro as Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the  much awaited Howrah Maidan to Esplanade Stretch (4.8 km) of East-West Metro today from the newly constructed Esplanade Metro station of this Corridor.

Shri Modi also inaugurated the Kavi Subhash – Hemanta Mukhopadhyay Stretch (5.4 km) of the Orange Line and extended Taratala – Majerhat Stretch (1.25 km) of Purple Line.   With these inaugurations, the traffic scenario of Kolkata and Howrah is assumed to be undergoing a facelift.

The Prime Minister waved to the waiting crowd waiting patiently outside as well as inside of new Esplanade station this morning before the inauguration.  Shri P Uday Kumar Reddy, General Manager, Metro Railway explained him the East-West Metro Project with the help of a 3-D Model. Shri Modi expressed his satisfaction witnessing such an engineering marvel and praised theMetro officers, staff as well as the engineers and labourers who have toiled hard to realise the dream of running Metro services under a mighty river like Hooghly for the first time in the country which is going to make public transport farst, hassle-free as well as environment-friendly.  

After the inauguration, the Prime Minister flagged off the first Metro services on these three routes. He also travelled in a Metro from Esplanade to Howrah Maidan and back.  During this Metro journey, he sat beside the school children, labourers and engineers associated with these projects and interacted with them.  He enquired them about their expectations from Kolkata Metro and also about their feelings while travelling under river Hooghly for the first time.  The students thanked the Prime Minister for making them experience a dream come true travel with the Head of the State.

In a series of posts on X, the Prime Minister said:

“The metro journey was made memorable thanks to the company of these youngsters and those who worked on this project. We also travelled through the tunnel under the Hooghly river. ”

“It’s a very special day for the people of Kolkata as the city’s metro network gets significantly enhanced. Connectivity will get a boost and traffic will get decongested. It’s a proud moment that the Howrah Maidan-Esplanade Metro section has the first underwater metro transportation tunnel under any major river in our country.”

A total of 11.45 kms has been added with Kolkata Metro network today at a cost of Rs. 6925 crore. These projects will help people of far-flung areas of South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly Midnapur to travel in and around Kolkata without any traffic snarl and at a faster pace.

This apart, the Prime Minister also inaugurated several Metro projects worth Rs 15,400 crore of  Agra, Pune, Kochi and a part of Delhi – Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS). Shri Modi also flagged off the first metro services on these routes.

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SSS/6.3.24/...

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