Metro Railway is complying with the recommendations made by the commissioner of railway safety (CRS) for commissioning the Esplanade-Sealdah stretch of the East-West corridor, the utility’s general manager said on Friday.
“East-West Metro will soon be fully functional. The CRS made some recommendations while giving its approval for commercial runs between Esplanade and Sealdah. They are being complied with,” Uday Kumar Reddy, the Metro boss, said at Esplanade station on Friday.
The 16.6km East-West Metro corridor is now functional in two sections — between Sector V and Sealdah and between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade. The 2.5km Esplanade-Sealdah section, which has seen four incidents of water leakage and soil subsidence since 2019, is finally ready.
On Friday, Reddy inaugurated some passenger amenities at Esplanade and Howrah stations of East-West Metro, also known as the Green Line. Lockers where passengers can keep their luggage against payment were also inaugurated.
Sumeet Singhal, commissioner of railway safety, Northeast Frontier Railway Circle, inspected the Esplanade-Sealdah section on April 27. The CRS clearance came the next day.
This newspaper had reported that trains between Howrah Maidan and Sector V will be operated in manual mode.
Between Sector V and Sealdah, trains ran, until recently, in the automatic train operations (ATO) system.
Between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade, trains run in the automatic train protection movement (ATPM) or the manual system, where the train is driven by a motorman.
Both manual and automatic modes are parts of the communications-based train control system, which divides the corridor into moving blocks. The ATO system is an advanced version.
“Even in the manual mode, there is a minimum gap of 50m between two trains on the same section. The driver cannot breach the gap or exceed the prescribed speed limit. In case he tries to, emergency brakes will automatically apply,” the official said.
In the automatic mode, the motorman only has to press the start button and close the train’s doors at stations.
“Getting the entire section ready for the automatic mode will take another six months at least. Using two separate software programs to run trains on the full corridor does not make sense. For now, when commercial services begin, trains will run between Howrah Maidan and Sector V in manual mode,” an official told this newspaper.
Since the CRS nod, trains are running on both sections in manual mode. After commercial services, the trial runs on the entire section are also being done in the
same mode.
Six-coach rakes are used in East-West Metro, compared to eight-coach trains used in other corridors. There are 14 trains in the operational fleet as of now.
“All 14 trains have already been upgraded with the new ATPM software,” said an engineer.
On Friday, Reddy was asked about the land logjam at Kidderpore and the long wait for a traffic block at Chingrighata, which have held back the Joka-Esplanade (Purple Line) and New Garia-airport (Orange Line) corridors, respectively.
“The Metro projects will help the residents of Calcutta. We are in talks with the state government. We are hopeful of a solution,” he said.