India News | Kolkata Metro Await PMO Nod to Open Full Stretch of Howrah-Sector 5 Corridor

Kolkata, May 2 (PTI) The Kolkata Metro Railway authorities are waiting for the green light from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to commission the unfinished stretch of the Howrah Maidan-Sector 5 corridor, an official said on Friday.

The Esplanade-Sealdah stretch in the middle of the total 16.6 km corridor of the East-West Metro is left unfinished as the work there was delayed because of soil subsidence following water seepage several times.

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The sections on the two ends - Salt Lake Sector 5 and Sealdah, and from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade - are currently functioning. The second part also links Howrah railway station with Kolkata.

Thus, commissioning of the 2.6 km long Esplanade-Sealdah stretch would enable the authorities to operate trains on the entire length of the corridor - from Howrah Maidan to Salt Lake Sector 5, the city's information technology hub. Most of the corridor is underground including below the Hooghly river.

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The Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) recently gave its nod to run trains in the unfinished section.

An official said that the operations in the entire Salt Lake Sector V-Howrah Maidan stretch can begin within two months, subject to the clearance from PMO which will take the final call.

"Only the PMO can decide on the issue and we are waiting for its approval," he said.

Presently some work in the stretch is going on as per guidelines while a 'No Objection Certificate from the fire brigade is awaited before starting operations, a state official told PTI.

"This is a routine practice. We are in close coordination with the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) and Metro Railway Kolkata authorities," a senior fire brigade official said.

KMRC is the implementing agency of the East-West Metro.

CRS Sumeet Singhal issued the clearance on April 28 after conducting a thorough inspection of the Esplanade-Sealdah stretch.

While work was on in this section below the ground, a tunnel boring machine hit an aquifer and cracks appeared in several houses in Bowbazar area.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)