In a first-of-its-kind move, India now has a metro which runs under a river. Recently, the Kolkata Metro ran a trial run of its metro services from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade. The route falls under the Hooghly River and the trial run proved successful. This will be the first time a metro railway runs under a river in India.
Taking to Twitter, the Metro Rail Kolkata tweeted, “Kolkata Metro creates History! For the first time in India, a Metro rake ran under any river today! Regular trial runs from #HowrahMaidan to #Esplanade will start very soon. Shri P Uday Kumar Reddy, General Manager, has described this run as a historic moment for the city of #Kolkata.” The authorities also shared a 2:10-minute-long video of the metro as it runs through the tunnels.
Take a look at the video here.
Kolkata was the first city in India to have the first planned and operational rapid transit system in India. After years of development, it now has three lines – blue, green, and purple. According to reports, the Howrah Maidan metro (which was desperately needed by its citizens) will be the country’s deepest Metro station (33 metres below ground).
This feat would not have been possible without the work done by the groundworkers and engineers in Kolkata. The video has been viewed over 45K times.
Here’s what people had to say.
The metro is expected to cover a stretch of 520 metres in 45 seconds.