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Time of India
3 days ago
- Time of India
Commuters throng underground as surface transport goes haywire
1 2 3 4 Kolkata: Commuters on Monday preferred the underground route as transport above the ground went missing since morning, forcing many office-goers to take unsanctioned leave. The Metro was a saviour when buses, mostly hired for rallyists, were unavailable and app-cab services were erratic. Till 3 pm, the Blue Line, which is the city's transportation lifeline operating along the North-South axis, recorded a sharp spike with 386,033 commuters. Green Line 2, or East-West Metro's Esplanade-Howrah Maidan section, ferried 39,528 people till 3 pm. Howrah was the Green Line's most crowded station, earning Rs 3.1 lakh (cash) till 5.30 pm. "Compiling revenue generated from other means like smart card, UPI, and the Metro app, Howrah station earned around Rs 5 lakh till 5.30 pm," an official said. The passenger count for Green Line 1, or East-West Metro's Sector V-Sealdah section, was 29,501 till 3 pm. The less-used metro lines were more crowded than usual. Till 3 pm, the Orange (New Garia-Ruby) and Purple (Joka-Majerhat) lines recorded 3,276 and 3,430 passengers, respectively. You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata Extra counters were opened at stations like Esplanade, Howrah, and Park Street. Extra staff members and RPF personnel were deployed to control the crowd. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like AirSense 11 – Smart tech for deep sleep ResMed Buy Now Undo Manual passage replaced automatic fare collection (AFC) gates. Separate accesses were opened for smart card users for faster movement. As passengers were trying to squeeze in, a few trains were briefly held up at Esplanade and Chandni Chowk stations because the compartment doors could not be closed. RPF personnel were seen rushing in to help commuters board the trains. Escalators were turned off to prevent accidents. "It was like a local train journey. The compartments were packed with rally participants. I had to get down at Esplanade but could not. I went to Park Street instead and walked back," said Pritam Saha, a Lake Town resident who boarded a train at Belgachhia. Above the ground, the dearth of buses or any other means of commute gave daily travellers a harrowing time. "I waited for 20 minutes for a bus to Park Street, then decided to take the metro from Thakurpukur station to Majerhat where I waited for another 30 minutes for a bus. Joined three others around 10 am for a shared cab ride to Park Street that cost us Rs 600," rued Goutam Maji, a private firm employee. App cabs were cancelling at random. "At 8.30 am, at least four cab drivers cancelled rides to Esplanade," said Tanima Mondal, who was forced to opt for an app bike for twice the normal fare. Very few auto rickshaws were seen in the morning. Buses from both the northern fringes (Barasat, Rajarhat, New Town) and the south (Behala, Budge Budge, Amtala, Sonarpur, and Baruipur) weren't available since Sunday evening. According to Titu Saha of the City Suburban Bus Service and Tapan Banerjee of the Joint Council of Bus Syndicate, it was the highest rally requisition in recent years.
Time of India
27-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Army gives nod for bus stand shift to Curzon Park for Purple Line stn work
1 2 Kolkata: The defence ministry has given the green signal to shift the Esplanade bus stand, popularly known as the L20 stand, to Curzon Park, paving the way for the construction of the Joka-Eden Gardens Metro corridor. From its current location, the bus stand will be temporarily relocated to a space behind the East-West Metro's Esplanade station at Curzon Park, covering 3,224 sq m, nearly 1,000 sq m more than the 2,311 sq m patch, which was earlier selected at the Dufferin Road-RR Avenue crossing. The permission to move the bus stand out of the Purple Line's working zone at Esplanade gives implementing agency RVNL more construction room and allows it to go ahead with its original plans. The station construction layout at Esplanade was changed when the Army had withheld the permission to relocate the Esplanade bus stand to Curzon Park and Kolkata Police found the smaller option opposite Dufferin Road for the new L20 bus stand. You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata The Esplanade sanction coincided with the RVNL clearing the Kidderpore station hurdle as the state issued an NOC for land use at Alipore Bodyguard Lines on Thursday. For the working permission in Curzon Park, RVNL will have to pay the MoD an annual lease rent of Rs 37.5 lakh.
Time of India
06-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Kolkata East-West Metro: Work done, KMRC starts sealing 98-ft TBM shafts
1 2 3 Kolkata: KMRC has started sealing the last openings to the twin East-West Metro tunnels. The 98-feet deep shafts at the Esplanade metro station were built to launch the giant tunnel borers, Chundi and Urvi, in Jan-Feb 2019. A shaft is a vertical pathway that provides access to underground tunnels. Normally, metro shafts are closed months before the third rail (carrying electricity) is laid to prevent electrocution. Contractors ITD-ITD Cementation, which has built the last 2.6 km Esplanade-Sealdah leg of East-West Metro, took enormous risks to accommodate the drastic change in work sequence, allowing civil construction (tracks, pipelines, electric cabling, signalling work, etc) and train trials to proceed simultaneously and prevent further delay of the project. On Thursday, TOI sneaked a peek behind the cardboard partition that hides the 30m deep shafts from the East-West Metro's Esplanade station's functional area. The work will be over by July, said officials of KMRC, the implementing agency of East-West Metro, which is now veering toward its full 16.6 km run from Sector V to Howrah Maidan. The Esplanade-Sealdah section — the missing link between Sector V-Sealdah and Esplanade-Howrah Maidan — is finally ready for revenue operations. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch CFD với công nghệ và tốc độ tốt hơn IC Markets Đăng ký Undo Ever since PM Modi inaugurated the 4.8km Esplanade-Howrah Maidan section (India's first under-river Metro), in March last year, the two shafts, one measuring 5.6mX4m to allow access to the west-bound or Howrah-bound tunnel, and another 3.1m-square opening for the eastbound or Sector V-bound tunnel, have been taking workers to the unfinished Esplanade-Sealdah section. The west-bound shaft was reduced from 10.5mX10.5m to its current size to make the subway linking East-West and North-South lines at Esplanade station more spacious. The shaft closure involves construction of four slabs to cover each of the twin tunnels. The east-bound shaft has two are hatch covers (steel structures through which tunnels can be accessed during emergencies) and two concrete covers. The west-bound shaft will have one hatch cover and three concrete slab covers. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Eid wishes , messages , and quotes !
Time of India
04-06-2025
- General
- Time of India
Lone rake pulls Purple Line ops, normal services from today
1 2 3 Kolkata: The currently operational curtailed services of the Joka-Esplanade Metro are likely to continue to face challenges unless new rakes are added immediately. An official, however, said late on Wednesday that normal services would be available from Thursday. Till the beginning of May, the Joka-Majerhat section of the Purple Line ran on a basic signalling system, offering 18 services at 50-minute intervals, from 8.55 am to 3.35 pm. Following the advanced signalling upgrade, 44 services were added from May 9, and the six-hour services doubled. The automatic CBTC or communication-based train control signal helps improve frequencies. Even as the operational window was expanded (8 am to 8 pm), the old system continued, with a single rake running up and down the 8-km corridor, while another remained on standby. In the extreme heat, the CBTC-compliant rakes, which require meticulous maintenance, became overworked, and consequently, the speed slowed down. The targeted 24-minute frequencies couldn't be met, officials said. On Monday evening, one of the rakes (No. 417) failed, following which the reserved train was put into service. Instead of 62 services, 48 were provided at 40-minute intervals. "The Purple Line rake runs at around 30 kmph, covering 8 km in 16-17 minutes. Add 5 minutes for reversing. That's a 24-minute gap between two services, rather tight for an overworked rake," an official said. Kolkata Metro is supposed to receive 20 new eight-coach rakes in the next 10 months for the Purple, Orange (New Garia-Ruby), and Yellow (Noapara-Airport) lines, which are ready for meaningful expansions. "Equipped with an automatic CBTC signalling system, the Medha rakes made in Chennai's Integral Coach Factory should reach Kolkata Metro within the current fiscal," an official said. Another 37 rakes were also ready, but the dispatching schedule had not been finalized, he said. Metro Railway's fully air-conditioned fleet currently includes 31 rakes for the Blue (North-South), three for the Orange, two for the Purple, and 17 six-coach BEML rakes for Green (East-West Metro) lines. "Clearly that's not enough for an expanding Metro network. There aren't enough manpower either to seamlessly run the existing 31km North-South (Blue) line, which ferries six lakh passengers daily, and East-West Metro, with a lakh daily passenger count. When the EW Metro starts its full 16-km length, another five lakh passengers will use the services every day. On top of this, the Purple and Orange lines are being expanded, and the Yellow line is set to roll out," said Subhasis Sengupta, vice-president, INTTUC-affiliated Metro Railway Pragatisil Sramik Karmachari Union. "Metro just about managed when the Purple Line was being run for six hours, on a single shift of workers, with one rake at its disposal. When hours doubled, two shifts were introduced, with limited manpower. The system is bound to fall apart if operations are expanded without strengthening infrastructure."
Time of India
24-05-2025
- Time of India
Kolkata's first Metro ring ready except for 366m stretch at Chingrighata
KOLKATA: Metro Railway is eager to ring the city with the Orange, Green and Blue lines, Metro GM P Uday Kumar Reddy said on Friday. He expressed hope that the Chingrighata impasse would end soon and the last 366m of the Orange line would be bridged to complete the ring, with three interchanges at Esplanade, New Garia and Salt Lake Sector V. A passenger travelling from Esplanade or further and heading south on the Blue Line can disembark at New Garia and switch to the Orange Line. While this line is currently operational till Ruby intersection, once the gap in the viaduct at Chingrighata is bridged, it will enable the passenger to travel to Sector V. There, the passenger can switch to the Green Line and travel back to Esplanade, once the small stretch between Sealdah and Esplanade is commissioned. Efforts are on to create another ring by linking the Purple Line from Joka to the Blue Line at Esplanade and Tollygunge. Later, commuters can avail of a larger ring when the Yellow Line from Noapara allows a Blue Line passenger from New Garia to travel to the airport. There, the passenger can switch to the Orange Line and travel back to New Garia. Reddy said the commissioning of the East-West Metro's last 2.6km leg between Sealdah and Esplanade is taking time because Metro is complying with the observations made by the commission of railway safety (CRS). The nodal authority for mandatory safety nod for any new Metro line in India cleared the Esplanade-Sealdah section on April 28 with observations on signalling, fire safety, and other systems. Once complete, the entire 16km East-West Metro - from Sector V to Howrah Maidan - will be operational. CRS may inspect the upcoming Airport line at the end of this month, the GM said at the inauguration of passenger amenities, like electronic lockers, at East-West Metro's Howrah station, and unveiling a massaging chair in the North-South Line's Esplanade station. Commuters will be able to hire these lockers to store luggage. The lockers will be available in other Metro stations soon. "Kolkata Metro is adding passenger facilities every day. The North-South Metro carries around 7 lakh passengers every day. When the entire East-West Metro is functional, the daily passenger count of North-South Metro will be more than 10 lakh," said Reddy. Asked about land hurdles at Chingrighata for Orange Line and Kidderpore for Purple Line, the GM said, "We are liaising with the state. Hope the sites are available soon. The people will benefit immensely when the Orange Line reaches Sector V, using the interface to switch to the Green Line." Girder-launching to bridge the last 366m of the Orange Line has been stuck at Chingrighata crossing since Feb 2. Implementing agency RVNL has sought two weekend nights to launch the last two spans of 28m and 34m over the crossing. The remaining 304m viaduct will pass through the eastern drainage channel and Sukantanagar, and no traffic block will be needed for girder-launching ab-ove these areas, officials said. RV-NL also needs land at Alipore Bodyguard Lines for the undergrou-nd Kidderpore station. Construction of the other three underground stations for Purple Line is on. Metro Railway is also trying to open the Yellow Line's Noapara-Airport section this year. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Brother's Day wishes , messages and quotes !
