KOLKATA: The East-West Metro’s Esplanade station is now getting finishing touches for commissioning of the truncated Esplanade-Howrah Maidan run.
The incomplete Esplanade station was a key reason that had peeved the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS) team during the Dec 15-18 visit. They were unhappy that a shaft inside the station was left open for accessing the problematic Esplanade-Sealdah stretch.Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC), which is implementing the 16km East-West Metro corridor which will eventually link Sector V with Howrah Maidan, and contractors ITD ITD-Cementation are working day and night to make the Esplanade station functional.
A small portion of the shaft has been left open, but it has been cordoned off from all sides, out of the view of passengers who would be accessing East-West Metro’s Esplanade station when the under-river operations start.
The East-West Metro station, with an interchange to access the North-South line, is one of the three that will constitute the Metro hub at Esplanade. The station, in the heart of the city, was dug equivalent to eight floors to allow the twin East-West Metro tunnels, passing through SN Banerjee Road towards Sealdah to steer clear of the North-South Metro tracks. The “interchange” is linked through a subway. “The subway will be ready for use in the next few days,” an engineer working at Esplanade station said. KMRC has kept provision for another subway to connect the third Metro station (Joka-Esplanade corridor) at the Esplanade Metro hub.
The sprawling station, covering 30,000sqm, now sports a swanky look, barring the shaft area. The interiors, characterized by colourful murals, paintings and panels has “Esplanade” as the theme, with illustrations of trams. Twenty 20 escalators and eight lifts are there to carry commuters from a depth of 28m.
The Esplanade station is India’s second deepest Metro station after the one 30m below Howrah railway station. Delhi’s Hauz Khas Metro station, which was the country’s deepest Metro station until Howrah Metro station came up, has a depth similar to Esplanade station.
The station has four tiers, aligned with the North-South corridor on the mezzanine level. Ticket counters have come up on this level since it’s the first space commuters will access. Then comes “upper concourse”, reserved for a commercial complex, followed by the “lower concourse”, where the MEP or mechanical, electrical and plumbing (air-conditioners, transformers, generators, power cables) is being installed. Finally comes the fourth or platform level. Like Sealdah, East-West Metro’s Esplanade station has double discharge platforms leading to the twin tunnels.
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