Kolkata, Apr 8 (PTI) With the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) likely to inspect the Sealdah-Esplanade stretch of the East-West Metro early next week, the entire 16.6 km corridor may become operational soon, a Kolkata Metro Railway official said on Tuesday.
At present services on the East West Metro are run along two truncated stretches – Howrah Maidan-Esplanade and Sealdah-Sector V.
There was soil subsidence and water leakage during Metro work at Bowbazar under the Esplanade-Sealdah stretch in 2019 and later which led to disruption of work along the entire Sector V-Howrah Maidan corridor.
Now with successful trial runs in the Howrah Maidan-Sector V several times in the past few months, the CRS visit early next week assumes significance.
The official said only after getting clearance from CRS metro services along the entire 16.6 km stretch of the East-West will become operational.
The official said Metro authorities are also hopeful about commissioning the 4.5-km stretch between Ruby Crossing (Hemanta Mukhopadhyay) and Beleghata soon.
The CRS has already given nod for this stretch running along E M Bypass.
The official, however, did not specify a time frame for starting the operations between Hemanta Mukhopadhyay and Beleghata.
At present, trains ply along a 5.4-km stretch from New Garia (Kavi Subhash) to Hemanta Mukhopadhyay. PTI SUS RG
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