A businessman arrived outside Esplanade station at 2.30am; a homemaker left home for Esplanade at 4.20am; a daily commuter started her day much earlier than usual so she could make it to Esplanade by 6.30am.
All of them took the trouble so they could be on the historic first train from Esplanade to Howrah Maidan that started its journey at 7am on Friday.
A train, some of whose coaches had all the seats taken, rolled out of Esplanade station as the passengers cheered at the top of their voices, much like they would do in a football match.
Many spoke with “pride” that Calcutta had the first underwater Metro.
A second and louder round of cheers rang out as the train entered the Hooghly riverbed and the tunnel was lit up in blue. Most had their phones in hand to record the journey as the train crossed the 520m stretch across the river.
At Esplanade, 6.20am, there was already a queue of about 40 people outside the station. The gates of the station had yet to open and the first train was still 40 minutes away.
Rajib Roy, 49, a businessman from Salt Lake was the first to arrive. At 2.30am.
Roy wanted to buy the first ticket. “I bought the first ticket when the Sector V-Salt Lake stadium section had its first commercial run in February 2020. I had set a target that I would also buy the first ticket in the Esplanade-Howrah Maidan section,” he said.
One person behind Roy in the queue was 62-year-old Krishna Mukherjee from Thakurpukur. She had come with her grandson. “I left home at 4am, took a bus to Esplanade and reached the Esplanade station at the crack of dawn. My grandson enthused me to take the first ride and I agreed,” she said.
Krishna and her grandson Kaustav Chakraborty were not happy with just the Esplanade-Howrah Maidan ride. They also took rides on the New Garia-Ruby section, which started commercial run on Friday.
On their way home, they took boarded a Metro train from Majerhat to reach Joka. The Joka-Majerhat service also started Friday.
Earlier, trains on this line would run between Joka and Taratala. From Friday it was extended to Majerhat.
Ranjana Roy, 31, a state government employee, left her home in Shyamnagar in North 24-Parganas at 4.30am. She and her husband took the first local train from Shyamnagar, reached Sealdah and took a bus to Esplanade. They reached the queue outside Esplanade station at 6.10am.
“The most exciting part of the ride was when the train went under the river,” she said.
An official of Metro Railway said about 450 people took the first train from Esplanade.
Most passengers were given QR-coded tickets. The code had to be scanned at the gate to gain access to the platform. Officials were helping passengers get the tickets scanned.
The passengers clicked pictures and made videos of the ride.
When the train first entered the Esplanade station at 6.52am, people queued up outside the platform screen doors. They did not jostle. Time
will tell whether the manners last.
As the gates opened, there was a rush to step in. The train started at 7. Exactly eight minutes later, it was at the Howrah Maidan station. Whoosh!!
