After 2 months, 4 E-W rakes from Hwh go to Salt Lake for upkeep
Times of India | 9 January 2025
12 Kolkata: The four rakes running on the East-West Metro's under-river section for nearly two months were finally taken to the Salt Lake depot for maintenance. Four other spruced-up ones were brought in for operation on the Esplanade-Howrah Maidan stretch, transported the same way through the eastbound tunnel of the incomplete Esplanade-Sealdah section on Monday night.
The green line's BEML-made rakes require regular weekly or bi-weekly maintenance. The authorities compromised on the issue of rake upkeep since Nov 10 to hasten work in the incomplete section. Services were, however, curtailed in the Esplanade-Howrah Maidan section to ease pressure on the rakes.
Passage of the eight empty rakes through the more finished eastbound (Sector V-bound) tunnel started at 11 pm after revenue operations were over. The transportation continued till Tuesday as the four rakes used in the 4.8 km Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section were exchanged with four others from Salt Lake's Central Park maintenance shed.
Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC), which is implementing the East-West (Green) line, earlier planned to use the recently completed westbound tunnel of the 2.5 km Esplanade-Sealdah section for rake transportation. Metro Railway, which runs the city's rapid transit network, is chasing a mid-2025 deadline to launch this section and have India's first under-river Metro complete its full 16.6 km run.
East-West Metro now runs in two disjointed sections – the 9.2 km Sector V-Sealdah and 4.8 km Esplanade-Howrah Maidan. KMRC skipped the in-between 2.5 km Esplanade-Sealdah stretch and opened Phase II or the Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section in March 2024 even though there is no depot on the Howrah side. Trains were arduously transported to the Salt Lake stabling yard through the more finished eastbound tunnel. From Sealdah, they are driven normally to the Central Park depot, which has facilities to scrutinise and deep-clean the rakes. Because of the difficult transportation process, only two rakes were used in the Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section.
Track-laying for the westbound (Howrah-bound) tunnel was completed a fortnight ago. In Aug 2019, the machine digging this tunnel became defunct after hitting an aquifer below Bowbazar, causing large-scale subsidence and house collapses. Even as contractors ITD ITD-Cementation have been trying to complete the rest of the line, every time there was rake movement, the third rail (from which the trains draw electricity) would have to be charged and civil construction in the 2.5 km section would come to a halt. Metro Railway then granted ITD a power block from Nov 10 to Dec 13 for uninterrupted work. The power block was extended further so that most of the civil construction could be completed.