CRS chief clears signalling system for New Garia-Ruby
Times of India | 9 February 2024
Kolkata: The CRS chief has cleared the signalling system of the New Garia-Ruby line, but has held back final authorization for East-West Metro and the Purple line’s Majerhat extension, pointing out fresh issues he wants the agencies to comply with first.
The commission of railway safety (CRS) under the ministry of civil aviation accords the mandatory safety approval for starting revenue operations of any new Metro line in the city.Earlier this week, the chief commissioner of railway safety (CCRS) Janak Kumar Garg inspected three Metro lines that are ready for launch — East-West Metro’s under-river section, the Joka-Taratala line’s Majerhat extension and the signalling system of the New Garia-Ruby line.
Officials were tense about Garg’s impression of the East-West Metro’s 4.8km Esplanade-Howrah Maidan section, for which this was the third safety inspection since Dec 15. Metro Railway and KMRC, which is implementing the 16km East-West corridor, wants to start a truncated operation from Esplanade to Howrah Maidan, skipping a continuous run beyond the subsidence-ridden Sealdah-Esplanade section.
“The CCRS was satisfied with the way the East-West Metro line has shaped up. In the feedback regarding this stretch and the Purple line’s Majerhat extension, he has made some fresh observations. Compliance of the issues pointed out are required before the final authorization comes from the CCRS. We will be submitting the compliance reports tomorrow. Hopefully, the final authorizations for both lines will come next week,” Metro Railway’s AGM and principal chief engineer V K Srivastava, who is also KMRC’s managing director, told TOI on Thursday.
Garg’s 50-plus remarks regarding East-West Metro’s 4.8km section from Esplanade and Howrah Maidan via the river Hooghly include access points of Howrah Metro station which is embedded inside the railway station. The 50-plus observations about the Majerhat line includes the missing handrails along the evacuation path next to the tracks.
The Orange line’s Phase 1, which was granted the CRS nod to run on the one-train-only system, without signals, has passed the signalling inspection conducted by Garg on Wednesday. “The CCRS has accorded his authorization for commencement of public carriage of passenger traffic with electronic interlocking (EI) system of the Kavi Subhas (New Garia)-Hementa Mukhopadhyay (Ruby crossing) stretch,” a Metro Railway spokesperson said.