What is the East-West Metro?
A Metro route from Salt Lake's Sector V till Howrah Maidan, a distance of 16.55km from the eastern part of the city to its west.
What is its unique feature?
For the first time in India, a train will go under a river. A 520m stretch of the tracks will go through a tunnel under the Hooghly. The roof of the tunnel would be about 30 metres from the ground level.
Will I feel anything differnet when passing under the river?
No. The tunnels are being built in such a way that you won't know river from land. It will be like the Eurostar trains between London and Paris that go through the Channel Tunnel.
Is there any plan for an extension?
The railways has sanctioned a plan to extend the route by 5km from Salt Lake's Central Park to Haldiram's on VIP Road, near the airport. There will be a passenger interface at Haldiram's with the New Garia-Airport Metro link. What that means is you can switch from one to the other.
The state government is also preparing a detailed project report on a proposed extension from Howrah Maidan to Santragachhi.
Will the tracks run underground all along?
No. The 16.55km route will have a 5.74km elevated stretch of tracks built on viaduct. The entire 5km extended stretch to Haldiram's will be elevated too. So, 10.81km will be underground.
How many stations?
12, of which 6 will be underground and the rest overground.
Who owns the project?
The railway ministry is the majority stakeholder with a 74 per cent share while the Union urban development ministry holds 26 per cent. Till 2012, the state government held a 50 per cent stake while the other 50 per cent was with the Union urban development ministry. The Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation is the implementing agency. So, now the state government is a facilitator rather than a stakeholder.
What is the project cost?
The original projected cost was Rs 4,874.58 crore, sanctioned in 2008-09. But delays as well as the fluctuating rupee have raised the cost. The KMRC this year submitted an increased budget of Rs 8,996.96 crore, which has yet to be sanctioned.
Who is funding the project?
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is providing 46 per cent of the project cost, which works out to Rs 2,253 crore. The rest is funded by the Union government, mainly the railways.
How many private contractors are involved?
About 12. The contractors include some of the big names in infrastructure, including Afcons, a wing of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, ITD-ITD Cementation, Simplex Infrastructure and Gammon India. Siemens and ANSALDO, an Italian multinational, are also involved in the project.
When did work start?
April 2009. Phase II of the project was stalled in December 2012. Work resumed in September 2015.
How much work has been completed?
In the first phase, about 60 per cent, including the entire tunnel from Subhas Sarobar to Sealdah. The overall progress is about 35 per cent.
When are trains expected to run?
Earliest by June 2018, that too between Sector V and Sealdah, which constitute Phase I of the project. For Phase II, between Sealdah and Howrah Maidan, the deadline of December 2019 looks unlikely to be met.
How many deadlines have been missed?
The project has missed two deadlines so far.
The initial target for Phase I - Sector V to Sealdah - was 2013. For the entire stretch between Sector V and Howrah Maidan, the deadline was October 2014. The second deadline for Phase I was mid-2016. The third deadline for Phase I is June 2018 and December 2019 for Phase II, which has just begun.
What caused the initial delay?
Mainly land acquisition issues. In Phase I, a 365m stretch of the viaduct at Salt Lake's Duttabad could not be built for four years because 80 families had refused to shift. In Phase II, 500-odd settlers and shop owners refused to shift from near Central station in Bowbazar. On Brabourne Road, hawkers were a hindrance. The state government refused to shift the settlers and Calcutta police denied permission to partially block the thoroughfare for construction, leading to a stalemate.
Since the alignment of the route wasn't finalised, Afcons could not start boring tunnels from Howrah to Calcutta. An alternate alignment through Esplanade was proposed.
How did the private contractors react?
Afcons and Gammon sought compensation from the KMRC. Some others wanted to withdraw from the project. Madrid-based Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF)'s contract was terminated because of its cost-escalation litigation. Gammon too refused to bid again for the 365m stretch at Duttabad.
When did things start moving again?
In May 2015, when the Mamata Banerjee government finally asked 80 families to shift from the project site at Duttabad. The state urban development department provided land to the railways, where shelters for these families were built.
In Phase II, a realignment was proposed by the state government through Esplanade and Subodh Mullick Square. The railways and JICA agreed to it in August 2015. The passenger interface with the north-south Metro will now be at Esplanade instead of Central.
After the new alignment was fixed, it was found that several buildings would have to be demolished to build the Subodh Mullick Square station. The plan was discarded.
When did tunnel-boring finally start at Howrah Maidan?
In April this year, after a gap of three-and-a-half years.
Has the project been rid of all problems?
The army, which is the custodian of the Maidan area, has yet to give final clearance for the Esplanade station. Permission is also required from the Archaeological Survey of India to build the Mahakaran station because of the presence of three heritage buildings in the BBD Bag area.
What is the current status?
After a meeting in Delhi, the ministry of defence, the state government and the railways have arrived at a solution that the army will give land at Esplanade in lieu of railway-owned land at Kanchrapara in North 24-Parganas or Dum Dum. At both these places, the army is already using railway land on hire. A joint survey is expected soon. The task of removing the tram tracks near Esplanade could start within a month.
Meanwhile, the National Monuments Authority has asked the Archaeological Survey of India Calcutta circle to "go by the law" and consider giving permission to build tracks and a station at Mahakaran. Experts from IIT Kharagpur had previously done a detailed safety assessment and said that construction of tracks and a station in the heritage zone was possible.
How much has Phase II progressed?
The tunnel through which Howrah-bound trains will run has progressed about 600m towards the Hooghly. It is approaching Howrah station after crossing Bankim Setu. It will have to go another 540m to reach the river. The tunnel for Calcutta-bound trains has progressed 250m towards Howrah station.
What equipment is being used for tunnel boring?
Two giant tunnel-boring machines imported from Germany. The machines are boring a tunnel 5.5m in diameter at an average speed of 7 to 8m a day. A technique called earth-pressure balancing is being used so that the excavated face doesn't collapse on the machines. Each of the two machines has been built to sustain atmospheric pressure four-and-a-half times more than at ground level, a key requirement in drilling tunnels through a riverbed. The machines are fitted with powerful tungsten-carbide cutters to bore their way through land and then the riverbed.
How deep is each tunnel?
At Howrah Maidan, the roof of the tunnels are at a depth of 11m from the ground level. The first boring machine has reached a depth of 24m (ground to roof) near Howrah station. As it progresses towards the river, it will go further down till 30m. The Esplanade station will go 27m undergound, against an average of 16 to 17m in the north-south corridor.
Will the tunnels look like those of the old Metro?
No. Passengers in one tunnel won't be able to see a train in the other tunnel. The existing north-south Metro has only one tunnel, where passengers on two trains running parallel are visible to each other as they pass. The East-West Metro will have interlinked stretches every 250 metres, where both tunnels will be on view. The idea is to enable passengers aboard a train going through one tunnel to escape to the other in the event of an emergency. Since it isn't technically feasible to have interlinked stretches along the Hooghly riverbed, two escape shafts are being built at either end of the river route.
What's the Kardashian curve?
The Howrah-side tunnels have a curve of 228m radius. The deep tunnel curve is meant to match the road width and empty spaces above, with fewer buildings involved.
Will the trains look like those of the Dum Dum-Kavi Subhas Metro?
No. The East-West trains will have six coaches, unlike the eight-coach rakes of the existing Metro. The maximum speed will be 80 kmph and the average would be 45kmph.
How long would I have to wait for a train?
KMRC officials said the targeted minimum frequency was two-and-a-half minutes.
Is there anything else you want to know about the East-West Metro? Ask ttmetro@abpmail.com
