Infrastructure
The commuters will be covering the 520 metres in less than a minute, to cross the river. (Representative Image)
On 6 March, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 4.8-km-long section of the Kolkata Metro from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade, also featuring India’s first under-river metro tunnel.
The Prime Minister will also inaugurate the Kavi Subhash-Hemanta Mukhopadhyay and Taratala-Majerhat sections of the Kolkata metro on the same day, reports Mint.
The underground section of the corridor spans 10.8 km, including the vital 520-m underwater tunnel, and was executed by the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation.
The commuters will move quickly through the water, covering the 520 m in less than a minute.
Looking at the full journey of this stretch, trains will zoom through the river tunnels at speeds of 80 km/h, making the trip from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade in just 6 minutes.
The trains will operate 26 m below ground level at the tunnel's bottom, which is 36 m from the water's surface. Remarkably, the Howrah Metro station is poised to become the deepest metro station in India.