Kolkata Metro Railway, General Manager P Uday Kumar Reddy, recently announced a deadline for the inauguration of the airport Metro station. After inspecting the 32 km corridor’s alignment from New Garia to Kolkata airport, he said that the Airport metro stations will likely be ready by December 2025.
According to The Times of India, the Orange line, as it is known, will reach Metropolitan on EM Bypass in December 2023, Sector V in June 2024, and City Centre II in December 2024, said Uday Kumar Reddy. The Kolkata Metro Railway General Manager further noted that there has been a modification in the plan for the ready-to-launch 5 km Ruby stretch. Instead of a one-train-only system with no signal, it will be run by electronic interlocking (EI) signalling, which is reportedly expected to be ready by December 2023.
General Manager Uday Kumar Reddy’s projected timelines were rooted in the practical challenges encountered by Kolkata’s longest Metro track. This extensive project, initiated in 2011, has faced persistent setbacks in terms of both cost and timing, primarily due to land blockages. Commencing from the Kavi Subhas Metro station in New Garia, the General Manager reportedly conducted inspections along various segments including the EM Bypass, Salt Lake Bypass, New Town, and VIP Road, culminating at the airport station.
“We want to open the airport Metro station by December 2025, at the latest by June 2026,” GM Uday Kumar Reddy said at the airport’s upcoming hub station. The largest underground Metro facility in India will connect three routes – New Garia-airport, Noapara-airport, and airport-Barasat, approximately 150 m from the main NSB Airport building.
“We are trying to install the electronic interlocking (EI) first. It doesn’t make sense to run the line on the one-train-only system, with trains coming at 60-minute intervals, without signals,” General Manager Uday Kumar Reddy detailed of the shortened 5km New Garia-Ruby section, which was supposed to open in February this year.
On July 7, the Times reported on the Railway Board’s revised decision in the aftermath of the Odisha catastrophe. “We can do it faster if state government assistance comes sooner. The pier at Chingrighata is completed, and we have given the road (to the traffic department),” informed General Manager Uday Kumar Reddy. Meanwhile, Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) took over the site in May 2023.
Additionally, Metro Railway Principal Chief Engineer and KMRC MD VK Srivastava, along with Metro’s Chief Electrical Engineer Asim Majumdar and RVNL Executive Director A K Roy also addressed the media recently. VK Srivastava assured that the 7-kilometer Noapara airport route will be completed by December 2024.
Comments
0 comment