PM Narendra Modi inaugurates India’s first underwater metro route in Kolkata
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated India’s first underwater metro route in Kolkata today, a landmark project showcasing the country’s infrastructure development.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated India’s first underwater metro route in Kolkata, a landmark project that showcases the country’s progress towards infrastructure development.
Modi also laid the foundation stone of multiple connectivity projects worth Rs 15,400 crore.
The metro rail services flagged by the Prime Minister include operations from Kavi Subhash, Majerhat, and Esplanade stations of the Kolkata Metro; Kochi Metro, Agra Metro, Meerut-RRTS section and Pune Metro.
The submarine service is part of the Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section of the East-West corridor of the Kolkata Metro, which will cover a distance of 16.6 km under the Hooghly River.
The metro service will connect Howrah and Salt Lake, the twin cities of the state capital of West Bengal. Three of the six stations will be underground. It is expected to cover an almost 520-meter stretch under the Hooghly in just 45 seconds.
The Prime Minister took the first trip on the underwater metro with several students.
He waved to passengers on another subway train as it passed by the one he was riding on.
West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar and leader of opposition in the state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari, along with several metro employees, also accompanied the Prime Minister on the metro train.
The opening ceremony was attended by senior officials and dignitaries.
“Though the inauguration will take place tomorrow (Wednesday), passenger services will start later,” news agency PTI quoted Kaushik Mitra, public relations director of the Eastern Railway.
The inauguration of the flagship project comes less than a year after the Kolkata Metro, in April 2023, created history by passing a train through the underwater tunnel as part of tests, a first in India.
Kaushik Mitra said the underwater metro service is “a gift from our Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the people of Kolkata.”
He said “With this inauguration a long-cherished dream will come true,” he said.
Apart from the underwater metro tunnel, the Prime Minister will also inaugurate the Kavi Subhash-Hemanta Mukhopadhyay and Taratala-Majerhat metro sections in Kolkata today.
He is scheduled to address a public rally in Barasat, North 24 Parganas district, on 6th Wednesday afternoon.
On Tuesday evening, soon after he arrived in Kolkata, Modi went to the Ramakrishna Seva Pratishthan Mission, where Ramakrishna Math and Mission president Swami Smarananandaji Maharaj is undergoing treatment.
In a post on quick recovery.”
Prime Minister Modi’s latest visit to West Bengal came two weeks after his last trip to the state during which he addressed public rallies in Arambagh in Hooghly district and Krishnanagar in Nadia.
