From Mahakaran to Howrah, the Kolkata Metro made history by travelling for the first time through an underwater tunnel beneath the Hooghly River. This stretch of road will likely get commercial services this year. Howrah, at 33 metres below ground, will be the deepest Metro station whenever this section is made accessible to the general public. Now, this is a cause for celebration for the entire nation, not just the people of Kolkata. People celebrated this accomplishment on Twitter.

What did officially say about this launch?

P Uday Kumar Reddy, general manager of Metro Railway, called it “a historic event,” adding that “trial runs between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade station will be conducted for the next five to seven months, following which regular services on this stretch will begin.”

Some features of Kolkata ist underwater metro

• The tunnel, which is 33 metres below ground level and 13 metres below the riverbed, is the Indian equivalent of the London-Paris corridor of Eurostar.

• It will take 45 seconds to cross the tunnel which contains four stations: Esplanade, Mahakaran, Howrah, and Howrah Maidan.
• The 520-meter tunnel is a part of Kolkata’s East-West Metro Corridor, which spans the river from Salt Lake Sector V, the city’s IT sector, to Howrah Maidan, in the west.
• The trip time by metro between Howrah and Sealdah is reduced from 1.5 hours to 40 minutes. Additionally, it will reduce traffic at both ends.
• Because the tunnel from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade travels through numerous densely populated neighbourhoods along the Brabourne Road in the Burrabazar neighbourhood, residents of several century-old homes in that region had to relocate to hotels while underground work was being done.
• The subsurface water seepage at Madan Dutta also resulted in cracks in 12 buildings.