Kolkata Metro Railway promises to complete 100 km metro rail network by 2026

Kolkata, India (Metro Rail Today): If everything goes well, Kolkata will boast of a 100km of Metro rail network in the next four years. This include Phase 1 of the Joka-Esplanade Metro and New Garia-Airport Metro corridors, with expected runs in September and October, respectively. Also, Sealdah extension of East-West Metro line will start by April this year. The entire East-West corridor will be operational by January 2023.

"Kolkata now has 39km of Metro network (North-South and East-West). By 2026, we shall easily achieve 100km. To cater to the extensive network, 47 new rakes will be procured in the next three years, including China's Dalian (14) and CRRC Zhuzhou (eight) and 14 rakes from Chennai's ICF," said Arun Arora, General Manager, Kolkata Metro Railway.

On the delay over delivery of Dalian rakes, Arora said, "The first one is undergoing various tests, which got delayed because of the pandemic. Once the rake gets the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) nod, the rest can come."

The 6.97 km stretch of East-West Metro Corridor from Sector V to Phoolbagan is awaiting CMRS approval to add 2.3km to Sealdah. The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) Md Lateif Khan has recently inspected the section from March 16-17, 2022.

Arora promised to complete the first phase of the Joka-Esplanade and New Garia-Airport corridors, from Joka to Taratala on DH Road and New Garia to Ruby along EM Bypass, or extend these further from Joka to Majerhat and New Garia to Sector V respectively. "The infrastructure projects couldn't be left idle. We must keep commissioning sections as we complete them," said Arora.

Arora said the sections would run with "one train on one line" system (only one rake rolling along each track, sans signals) for now because of the delay in floating tenders for communication-based train control (CBTC) signalling. The Noapara-New Barrackpore line may start by August 2026, but its Barasat extension was uncertain because of land issues. "Nearly 18 lakh people will be using Kolkata Metro daily by 2025," he said.

For more details, please explore the Kolkata Metro page of Metro Rail Today.