Kolkata: The Sealdah-Esplanade section of East-West Metro (Green Line) was inspected by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) on 27 April.
A CRS nod is mandatory before a railway line is commissioned. After the CRS sends its approval, the stretch will be commissioned soon, though the date to start commercial services has yet to be decided.
Once this 2.6 Km Sealdah-Esplanade section is commissioned, the entire 16.6 km corridor linking Howrah Maidan and Salt Lake Sector V will become functional.
The corridor is currently functional between Salt Lake Sector V and Sealdah (Green Line 1) and between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade (Green Line 2).
According to Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation Ltd, the civil construction of this stretch was completed in December. Subsequently, an advanced anti-collision system called Communication-Based Train Control (CBTC) was installed.
Following this, trials were undertaken to bring the entire Howrah Maidan – Sector V corridor under one unified CBTC system.
Commercial services on the East-West Metro were suspended in phases several times in the last two months to facilitate these trials.
With the CRS nod expected this week, the entire East-West Metro starting commercially remains a matter of weeks.
