In first 15 days, 53.5k travelled daily under river between Howrah and Kol
Times of India | 4 April 2024
Kolkata: In 15 days, 7.5 lakh people have travelled between Howrah and Kolkata. Which equals around 53,570 daily riders in the newly-launched Esplanade-Howrah Maidan segment of the East-West Metro. The daily footfall would account for 535 packed bus trips, which were discarded as people from the twin cities of Howrah and Kolkata opted for the cleanest and cheapest mode of transportation.Of course, this is a rough calculation.
Those commuting from Howrah Metro station and elsewhere have told TOI that they have been increasingly dumping the expensive and fuel-emitting app cabs or personal cars ever since the Esplanade-Howrah Maidan stretch came to life on March 15.
According to data released by Metro Railway, East-West Metro’s truncated 4.8 km stretch linking Kolkata and Howrah via the Hooghly, has registered a total passenger count of 7.5 lakh between March 15 and 31. The East-West Metro doesn’t operate on Sundays. Thus, in 14 days, around 53,500 travelled daily, on an average. On the first day, around 70,000 had taken the Metro. On March 26, the footfall was 49,973; it was 51,104 on March 27 and 53,258 on March 28. The Esplanade-Howrah stretch offers 130 services, with the first and last trains leaving at 7 am and 9.45 pm respectively.
“Now the peak and off-peak-hour frequencies are 12 and 15 minutes respectively. When the entire 16 km East-West Metro becomes operational in the next six months, trains will run at 5-minute gaps,” said V K Srivastava, MD, Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC).
“Then, more people will be pushed toward the Metro, revolutionizing the entire commuting system of Kolkata and Howrah,” Srivastava, who is also Metro Railway’s AGM and principal chief engineer, added.
“Howrah Metro station has had the maximum passenger count of 3.1 lakh, followed by Howrah Maidan at 2.5 lakh,” said Kausik Mitra, CPRO, Metro Railway and Eastern Railway.
“Kolkata Metro stands out as a shining example of sustainable transportation at a time of rising environmental concerns. The North-South corridor carried as much as 18 crore passengers in the last fiscal. East-West Metro, when fully operational, will surpass the country’s oldest Metro, which has been the city’s lifeline for four decades,” Srivasatava said.