Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated India's first underwater metro line in Kolkata and took a metro ride with school students.
In a video shared by the BJP on its official X account, PM Modi was seen interacting with students during the metro ride from Esplanade to Howrah Maidan.
He also spoke to the workers involved in the construction of the project.
He was accompanied by West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose and BJP leaders Suvendu Adhikari and Sukanta Majumdar.
India's First Underwater Metro In Kolkata
The Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section of Kolkata Metro's East-West corridor is India's first venture into underwater metro services.
The Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section also has the deepest metro station in the country -- the Howrah Metro Station.
It is nestled under the Hooghly River, which separates the twin cities of Kolkata and Howrah.
Kolkata Metro touched a milestone in April last year as its rakes completed a trial journey under the bed of Hooghly through a tunnel 32 metre below the water level for the first time in India.
Spanning a 4.8-km stretch between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade, it forms a vital segment of the East-West Metro corridor, connecting key areas such as the IT hub Salt Lake Sector V.
The 4.8-km stretch of East-West Metro from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade has been built at a cost of Rs 4,965 crore.
Of the total 16.6 km of the East-West Metro corridor, 10.8 km is underground, including the tunnel beneath the river.
A Metro train is expected to traverse the 520-metre stretch under the river in just 45 seconds.
According to officials, the work for the East-West corridor began in 2009 and tunneling under Hooghly commenced in 2017.
The Salt Lake Sector V to Sealdah stretch of the corridor is commercially operational at present.
PM Modi Inaugurates Various Projects
During the function at the Esplanade metro station, PM Narendra Modi also inaugurated the Kavi Subhash-Hemanta Mukhopadhyay section of the New Garia-Airport line and the Taratala-Majerhat section of the Joka-Esplanade line of the Kolkata Metro, the country's oldest metro network.
PM Modi also inaugurated the Duhai-Modinagar (North) section of the Delhi-Meerut RRTS Corridor, Pune Metro's Ruby Hall Clinic-Ramwadi stretch, Kochi Metro's SN Junction to Tripunithura section, and Agra Metro's Taj East Gate-Mankameshwar section.
He also laid the foundation stone for the extension of the Pune Metro between Pimpri Chinchwad and Nigdi.
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