India’s first underwater metro will be launched this year

India’s Kolkata Metro Rail (KMRC) is due to complete construction of the country’s first undersea metro by December 2023. The upcoming project, called the East-West Metro Corridor, will cross the Hooghly River and link Howrah with Kolkata, Railway Supply magazine reports, citing Railway Technology.

Calcutta Metro launched in 1984. It currently serves the entire city of Kolkata and surrounding areas.

The cost of the project will be more than 80 billion rupees (967 million dollars). The underwater tunnel is likely to be completed by December 2023. KMRC uses German engineering to build it. Foreign tunneling experts were also involved.

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The cost of constructing a subway tunnel is about Rs 1.2 billion per kilometer, and with the construction of an underwater tunnel, it rises to about Rs 1.57 billion per kilometer.

Once completed, the project will allow passengers to travel half a kilometer underwater in less than one minute. It is also expected to ease traffic congestion by connecting Howrah and Silda railway stations in addition to Kolkata’s north-south metro line at the Esplanade.

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