Kolkata's East West Metro To Begin From February 13

The East-West Metro is set to begin its journey on February 13 with a truncated service from the Information Technolgy hub of Sector V in Salt Lake City to the Yuva Bharati Krirangan stadium, a Kolkata Metro official said on Monday.

The construction of the East-West Metro, scheduled to cover a stretch of 16.6 kilometres, has been delayed owing to an aquifer burst at Bowbazar in central Kolkata in August 2019 during tunnel boring work.

"The inaugural service of East-West Metro will commence from February 13," a Metro spokesperson said. The truncated service of 5 km from Sector V to the stadium is likely to provide some relief to office goers and students of several educational institutes of the area.

The East-West Metro, connecting the twin cities of Kolkata and Howrah, was scheduled to be completed by June 2021. However, its completion is likely to be delayed by up to one year due to an accident caused by an aquifer burst in Bowbazar area during drilling operations on August 31 last year.

Several buildings at Durga Pituri Lane and Syakra Para Lane in Bowbazar had collapsed or developed cracks after an aquifer broke during tunnel boring and water and silt gushed in, leading to severe ground subsidence in the vicinity.