Kolkata set for 1st underwater metro in India

A piece of history was written last week when a metro train emerged from a 520-metre tunnel below the Hooghly, marking India’s maiden under-river train travel. The feat comes nearly 40 years after metro started its journey in India in Kolkata - a good 18 years before Delhi got its first metro line - and 170 years after Indian Railways operated its maiden train between Bori Bunder and Thane. With the successful run, Kolkata joined the likes of London, Paris, New York, Shanghai and Cairo that also have train lines under the Thames, Seine, Hudson, Huangpu and Nile rivers, respectively. “It’s a historic day not only for Indian Railways, but for Kolkata as well. Test runs along the section have started today,” said P Uday Kumar Reddy, general manager, Metro Railway. The metro line will travel at a speed of 80 km/h through tunnels that have been dug out of the Hooghly riverbed, and the journey beneath the river will take less than a minute. This 16-km long rail route comprises 10.8 km of subterranean portions, with the downstream stretch of the river also being featured. The metro line will be 13 metres beneath the Hooghly River's bed.