Kolkata Metro opens first underground station of East-West Corridor (Line-2)

Kolkata Metro

Kolkata, India (Urban Transport News): Kolkata Metro today added another chapter in the East-West Metro Corridor in the metropolis. The East-West Metro, which opens from Saltlake Sector-5, will now reach Phulbagan Metro Station near Sealdah.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on 4th October has inaugurated the expansion of Phulbagan Metro Station and even metro service through video conferencing. However, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was not invited to attend this flagg off ceremony. The Phoolbagan station is the first underground station of the East-West Metro Corridor (Line-2). Trains will be operated for passengers from 5th October 2020 i.e. Monday.

After innugarating the station, Railway Minister said:

Now, time taken to travel from Phoolbagan to Salt Lake Sector-5 by Metro will only be 16 minutes, as against more than 1 hour taken by road. Movement from one part of Kolkata to another is now going to be faster & convenient with enhanced connectivity.

"According to estimates, the East-West Corridor of Kolkata Metro will be used by as many as 10 lakh people by 2035. This will not only reduce travel time, but also bring down the pollution level by providing eco-friendly mode of transport to the people of Kolkata," he added.

With the commissioning of Phulbagan metro station, the number of stations in the East-West Metro corridor have been increased from six to seven. It will take just 16 minutes to reach Phulbagan from Sector-5. It will cost 20 rupees. Manoj Joshi, General Manager had visited Phoolbagan station on 1st September 2020 to check the readyness of station.

Significantly, the first phase of the East-West Metro was inaugurated in February this year. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal himself arrived for the inauguration. In the first phase, the East-West Metro from Sector-5 to Saltlake Stadium was started. It has a total of 6 stations in which after Sector 5, Karunamayi, Central Park, City Center, Bengal Chemical and Saltlake Stadium fall. After about two months, it has been added to the Phulbagan metro station, extending about 1.7 kilometers.

According to information received from Metro Railway, the construction work of Phulbagan Metro Station started in the year 2011. The first phase of work was completed in 2014. The trial run was completed in the previous year 2019.

In June this year, the Chief Commissioner of Railway Safety also inspected and cleared the metro station.

It is expected that with the extension of service to Phulbagan, the number of passengers in the East-West Metro will increase. Metro service has been resumed from Kolkata on 14th September. The number of passengers in the North-South section may be increasing gradually, but the number of passengers in the East-West Metro is much lower than expected. Due to this, the number of trains was reduced from 72 to 48 in both directions and the interval between the two trains was increased from 20 minutes to 30 minutes.