It is a milestone for Kolkata Metro. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday

inaugurated India’s first underwater metro route connecting Kolkata and Howrah in West
Bengal. The route runs partly through a tunnel that lies underneath the river Hooghly.
The Prime Minister also virtually inaugurated other connectivity projects across the
country worth ₹15,400 crore.
Howrah station to be nation’s deepest station below ground level
The 4.8 km stretch of East-West metro from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade has been
built at a cost of ₹4,965 crore which will also have the country’s deepest metro station at
Howrah – 30 metres below ground level. “The East-West metro corridor has the
distinction of the very first under river transportation tunnel in India below the River
Hooghly, being 520m long and 13 m below the river bed and one of the deepest metro
stations at Howrah, which is 30 m deep below the ground,” stated the official statement
released by Kolkata Metro.

Narendra Modi arrived yesterday evening on his second visit to the state in March in the
run-up to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Later in the day, he also addressed a BJP
rally at Barasat in North 24 Parganas district. On March 1, the Prime Minister visited
Bengal on a two-day visit during which he addressed two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
rallies at Krishnanagar in Nadia, and Arambagh in Hooghly.
Today, along with the Howrah Maidan- Esplanade route, the Prime Minister also
inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of multiple connectivity projects across India.
These include routes in Kolkata, Pune, Kochi, Agra, and Delhi-Meerut Corridor; a 5.4km
new metro corridor from Kavi Subhash to Hemanta Mukhopadhyay in east Kolkata, a
1.2km extension of the Purple Line metro up to Majerhat, Pune Metro from Ruby Hall
Clinic to Ramwadi stretch, Kochi Metro Rail Phase I Extension project (Phase IB) from
SN Junction Metro station to Tripunithura Metro station, Agra Metro’s stretch from Taj
East Gate to Mankameshwar and Duhai-Modinagar (North) section of Delhi-Meerut
RRTS Corridor.
Simultaneously, he laid the foundation stone of extension of Pune Metro Rail project
phase 1 between Pimpri Chinchwad Metro-Nigdi.
Howrah Maidan to Salt Lake Sector V to be operational soon: says senior official,
Kolkata Metro
As per a senior official of Kolkata Metro, the entire E-W metro corridor between Howrah
Maidan to Salt Lake Sector V is expected to be operational soon. This will connect
Sealdah and Howrah stations, the two busiest railway stations in India. “The interior of
the tunnels has been specially illuminated with blue lights in a bid to give passengers an
impression of an underwater world. At least 40 figures of illuminated fishes have been
set up on the interior walls. Plans are also afoot to give some special sound effects in
this under-water section,” said the official regarding the stretch under the Hooghly that is
set to be commercially open by June.

Kolkata Metro has the distinction of being the first metro system in India which became
operational on October 24, 1984.