North Calcutta is set to get a new connector to the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass in 2010.

The Rs 30-crore passage will extend through a tunnel under railway tracks near Ultadanga station to link Tallah on BT Road with VIP Road at the point where the slip bridge to the Bypass starts.

After a meeting with the mayor and the municipal commissioner last week, Rail India Technical and Engineering Services (RITES) agreed to take up the tunnelling work under Sealdah main section. It will cost about Rs 25 crore.

The engineers of RITES estimated that it would take about two years to complete the tunnelling. The civic authorities want the work to be completed in 18 months so that the two-lane Bypass connector can be opened to motorists by March 2010.

“North Calcutta deserves this project. South Calcutta has Bypass connectors at Park Circus, Bondel Gate, Rashbehari and Baishnabghata. North Calcutta has only two connectors — at Khanna and Maniktala. The Beleghata connector is in central Calcutta,” said mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya

“The Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) and the Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners have built the rest of the connector but it cannot be used because of the railway tracks. A tunnel is the only solution. RITES will construct it and the CMC will provide the funds,” said municipal commissioner Alapan Bandyopadhyay.

Once the 4-km connector becomes operational, Bypass-bound motorists from Barrackpore, Dakshineswar, Dankuni, Belur, Dunlop and Sinthee need not cross the Shyambazar five-point intersection and drive up to Khanna to access the Bypass.

From Tallah, they can head east by taking Canal East Road, which will lead to the newly built Canal West Road. One arm of the road will extend under the rail tracks to meet VIP Road.

According to civic deputy chief engineer (civil) Soumitra Bhattacharya, the tunnelling is difficult since it has to be done without disrupting the traffic flow overhead.

“The Dum Dum to Bidhannagar Road stretch is the busiest in the Sealdah section. Movement of goods and passenger traffic cannot be suspended even for an hour for the tunnelling work. We are capable of doing this,” said a technical expert of RITES after a meeting with the municipal commissioner.