Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday, inaugurated and flagged off multiple metro services and connectivity projects across the country worth ₹15,400 crore, including a Kolkata Metro extension featuring India’s first underwater metro transportation tunnel under any major river.

“It’s a very special day for the people of Kolkata as the city’s metro network gets significantly enhanced. Connectivity will get a boost and traffic will get decongested. It’s a proud moment that the Howrah Maidan-Esplanade Metro section has the first underwater metro transportation tunnel under any major river in our country,” Modi said, in a post on X, after inaugurating the metro section, which is a part of the Kolkata Metro’s East-West Corridor, built at a cost of ₹4960 crore.

The Esplanade-Howrah Maidan section of Metro Railway, Kolkata, which passes below the mighty Hooghly river, has a length of 4.8 km. This section, deemed as an engineering marvel, has the deepest metro station. It will reduce travel time between Kolkata and Howrah.

The Prime Minister took a ride on a metro train from Esplanade to Howrah Maidan and interacted with school students during the journey passing through the underwater transportation tunnel.

“The metro journey was made memorable thanks to the company of these youngsters and those who worked on this project. We also travelled through the tunnel under the Hooghly river,” Modi said in another post on X.

The East-West metro corridor, the construction for which commenced in 2009, has suffered several delays due to various issues, including accidents at Bowbazar in central Kolkata.

Notably, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the world’s largest bilateral donor agency, is a major funding agency for the East-West Metro project.

JICA, in a media statement, said, the inauguration of the Howrah Maidan-Esplanade Section of the project by the Prime Minister marked a “milestone” in the continued partnership between India and Japan in urban infrastructure development.

Additionally, Modi inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for multiple connectivity projects for various cities of the country worth ₹15,400 crore, on the same day.

“The development projects catering to the urban mobility sector include Metro Rail and Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS),” a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said.

Apart from inaugurating the Howrah Maidan-Esplanade Metro section, the Prime Minister inaugurated the 1.25-km-long Taratala-Majherhat section of the Joka-Esplanade line in Kolkata, built at a cost of over ₹520 crore. The ₹1,430-crore Kavi Subhash-Hemanta Mukhopadhyay section of the New Garia-Airport metro line in the city was also inaugurated.

Later, addressing a public rally at Barasat in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district, Modi said, “Today new routes were inaugurated for Kolkata metro, Pune metro, Kochi metro, Agra metro and for Namo Bharat express. Government of India’s prime aim is to modernise the country’s public transport system. And the BJP government is working with a great speed to achieve this goal.”

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