Union Minister for Women and Child Welfare and Minority Affairs Smriti Irani today inaugurated the Sealdah Metro Station of the East-West corridor, which will help people living in Kolkata’s suburbs to reach the IT hub of Sector-5 without hassle.
She inaugurated the station virtually from Howrah Maidan, the terminal station of the 16.6-km corridor on the other side of river Hooghly. Trains were so far running between Sector-5 and Phoolbagan. Commercial services till Sealdah will begin on Thursday, taking the total operational length of the corridor to nine kilometres.
The Minister said the 2.33-km extension up to Sealdah will help around 35,000 passengers in their daily commute. Local TMC MP Sudip Bandopadhyay and MLA Paresh Pal boycotted the programme, alleging that Indian Railways insulted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by inviting her at the last minute for the inauguration of the station, located in central Kolkata.
The metro station will link suburban train services at Sealdah, one of the busiest terminal Railway stations in the country, providing connectivity to the passengers travelling to Salt Lake and the IT hub of Sector-5. The metro authorities are pinning hopes that the extension of services up to Sealdah will significantly increase the number of passengers in the partially operational East-West metro corridor, which is suffering from low patronage. When fully operational, the line will connect Howrah to Salt Lake via Kolkata. A part of the line has been built under the river bed of Hooghly, making it the first underwater metro system in the country.
