Orange Line steams ahead with last Budget’s record allocation
Times of India | 1 February 2025
Kolkata: Armed with the highest allocation ever for a single metro corridor in Kolkata (Rs 1,791 crore), railways revised Phase II plans for Orange Line, overcoming land hurdles at Metropolitan, Chingrighata and Nicco Park in the last two years.
Instead of launching the 4.5-km Ruby-Metropolitan section, which received the CRS nod for commissioning last year, Orange line's Phase II will now cover 8.8 km beyond Ruby to Sector V. The section is ready for commissioning in the first quarter of the upcoming fiscal, the same time East-West Metro, which meets the Orange line at Sector V, is due to start its full 16.6 km. Commuters will be able to ride all the way from Howrah Maidan not only to Sector V but across various stops on EM Bypass and the Salt Lake Bypass.
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Most of the span atop Mahishbathan bridge has been filled, even though there are gaps in the Sector V-New Town section. "We are particularly worried about the last 3 km of the 29-km Orange Line. Delays over sites on VIP Road has pushed back the deadline for this package by at least three years," an official said. Afcons is executing the Rs 533-crore package, comprising 3.5-km City Centre II-airport stretch. Despite the huge corpus, land issues have prevented RVNL from building the Orange Line stabling yard in Rajarhat.
Due to the uncertainty of the Orange Line's airport link, Metro Railway decided to start the city's maiden airport link from another side—the Yellow Line, which starts at Noapara. "The Yellow Line was allocated Rs 200 crore against Rs 650 crore in 2023-24. But the crucial work was done and the city gets its first airport link soon," an official said. Instead of launching the 3-km Noapara-Dum Dum Cantonment last year, another 4 km of the Yellow Line was finished for the airport link.
The 5km underground work of the Purple Line, allocated Rs 1,208 crore, is in full swing, save some hiccups.