Extension of Kolkata metro services boosts passenger count 5 times on Day 1

The Kolkata metro witnessed passenger count go up by nearly five times after the extension of East West Metro services from Salt Lake Sector Sector V to the busy Sealdah station.

This extension of the Kolkata metro services on Thursday led to very encouraging results with passenger count increasing nearly five times by 5 pm on Day 1, said an official.

The East West Metro service that earlier used to ply between Sector V and Phoolbagan has been extended till Sealdah, a distance of 2.33 kms from Phoolbagan.

According to Metro Railway spokesperson Ekalabya Chakraborty, passenger count went up to 18,000 till 5 pm, compared to 3,500 daily on earlier days.

Compared to over one hour of travel by road during peak hours, the Metro covers the 9-km journey between Sealdah and the IT hub in Sector V in 20 minutes.

The authorities have projected a daily passenger count of around 35,000 following the extension of services till Sealdah, which connects the adjoining districts through the suburban railway network.

Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani on Monday inaugurated the underground Sealdah Metro Railway station of East-West Metro corridor in Kolkata.

Smriti Irani said that the extension to Sealdah, a terminal railway station in the city, will help around 35,000 passengers in their daily commute from adjoining districts.

As per the Indian Railways, the construction of the 2.33 km Metro railway stretch between Phoolbagan and Sealdah was done at a cost of ₹1,250 crore. It will take only 21 minutes to cover the distance from Sealdah to Sector V, which is generally a one hour travel time by road.

The foundation stone for the East-West Metro project, which will connect Howrah to Sealdah and Salt Lake when fully operational, was laid in February 2009 by the then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

The Sealdah station is a part of the East-West corridor, a part of which is built under the Hooghly River, which is first of its kind in India. Out of the 16.6 km-long East-West Metro route, the underground corridor constitutes 10.8 km between Howrah and Phoolbagan.

The pace of the metro construction slowed down in May as several houses developed cracks during underground work at Bowbazar area in central Kolkata, leading to a delay in the completion of the project from its slated date of December, 2021.