Metro Railway on Thursday started tunnelling work in Khidderpore on the long-delayed Purple Line.
The drilling work kicked off on a formal note inside the grounds of St. Thomas School, where one of Kolkata’s largest underground shafts have been dug up to accommodate the 600-ton machine.
General manager of Metro Railway, P. Uday Kumar Reddy, pressed the ceremonial button that sent the tunnel boring machine (TBM) - named ‘Durga’-- inching forward toward Victoria, marking the start of what is expected to be a nearly two-year-long tunnelling stretch.
“It’s a historic and important day for the city,” Reddy said, flanked by officials from RVNL, defence authorities and WBTC. Also present was the Consul General of Nepal.
The 1.7-km stretch to Victoria is the first phase of the twin tunnels being built between Khidderpore and Park Street. The second machine – named ‘Divya’ – is expected to soon join in. Together, the two will carve out parallel tunnels beneath the heart of the city, a route that promises to eventually ease pressure off Kolkata’s choked central roads.
The engineering behind the project is no less dramatic than the setting. The launching shaft, dug into school grounds, measures 37 metres in length and 17 metres deep, a cavernous pit big enough to fit the full 95-metre length of the TBM. The machine itself was assembled in Chennai and brought to Kolkata in March.
May 2026 deadline
If all goes to plan, the tunnel to Victoria will be completed by May 2026, and work up to Park Street will finish by the end of 2026.
