Kolkata’s underwater metro services have seen a significant surge in commuters since its launch. The Kolkata Metro has transported more than 750,000 passengers in the underwater stretch between Esplanade stations and Howrah Maidan in just over two weeks since it opened on March 15, as per an official statement released on Wednesday.
Between March 15 and March 31, over a 17-day period, Howrah station recorded the highest passenger count of 315,000, followed by Howrah Maidan station, which registered 255,000 passengers, Kausik Mitra, the Chief Public Relations Officer of Kolkata Metro, mentioned in the statement.
The statement indicated that during March 15-31, the 4.8-km-long Green Line stretch between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade of the Kolkata Metro transported 7.5 lakh passengers.
The 520-meter underwater stretch lies between Mahakaran and Howrah stations, positioned as the second and third stations respectively from the Howrah Maidan side.
“Much to the delight of the metro users and suburban passengers of Eastern Railway as well as South Eastern Railway, commercial services on Howrah Maidan to Esplanade stretch of Green Line under the river has begun from March 15 and from day one, this stretch has been drawing thousands of commuters,” the statement said.
Currently, this stretch is served by four Metro stations: Howrah, Howrah Maidan, Esplanade, and Mahakaran. Services along this route are operational from Monday to Saturday.
The Esplanade metro station serves as an interchange between the Blue Line (Dakshineswar-Kavi Subhas) and the Green Line (Howrah Maidan-Esplanade).
When did the commercial services for India’s first underwater metro train service commence in Kolkata?
Commercial services for India’s inaugural underwater metro train kicked off on March 15.
The train service began operating from the Howrah Maidan station on Kolkata’s East-West metro corridor at 7 am. Concurrently, another train commenced its journey from the Esplanade station.