Kolkata Metro Railway carried out historic successful test run of two six coach metro trains under Hooghly river’s underwater tunnel, which is the country’s first-ever underwater Metro.

The two six-coach trains were readied for trials as part of Kolkata East-West Metro Project, and underwent a trial run on the 4.8 kilometer stretch between Esplanade and Howrah Maidan.

General Manager, Metro Railway, Kolkata, P Uday Kumar Reddy, said, this is a revolutionary step in providing a modern transport system to the people of Kolkata and suburbs.

This is indeed a special new year gift from Indian Railways for the people of Bengal, added Mr. Reddy.

The General Manager informed that the trial runs in the 4.8 KM underground stretch from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade will be conducted for the next seven months. He further informed that it is expected that commercial services on this stretch will begin this year only.

Once this stretch is open then Howrah will be the deepest Metro station (33-meter below surface) of the country. The Metro is expected to cover the 520 meters stretch under the river Hooghly in 45 seconds.

This tunnel under the river is at 32 metre below from the water level, the only of its type in India.