E-W block phase I: Passengers go back to auto, bus, cab, ferry
Times of India | 14 February 2025
12 Kolkata: After months of seamless commuting, passengers encountered life without metro on Thursday morning. Several of them were caught unawares, having overlooked announcements in newspaper and television. Those who hadn't installed the Metro Railway app also missed the alerts and arrived as usual at their nearby metro stations, only to learn that there was no service.
TOI spoke to several harried passengers at the East-West Metro stations across Kolkata and Howrah on the first day of the four-day closure, required for signalling work in the Esplanade-Sealdah section. Currently, East-West Metro operates in two disconnected sections due to the incomplete 2.5 km Esplanade-Sealdah stretch.
Samantha John, employed at a private firm in Park Circus, scrutinised the notification affixed to the Howrah Maidan metro station entrance for the third time. "Every day, I board the 9 am train to the Esplanade interface, walk to Janbazar to catch a Park Circus-bound auto and reach the office within half an hour. How could I overlook the news on service suspension? Perhaps I should take an app bike. Or maybe travel to the Second Hooghly Bridge to board a direct bus to Park Circus? Neither option saves time or money," John said.
Across the Hooghly, Sector V worker Pritam Basu was proceeding towards Sealdah metro station to board the metro, already running late because of missing his routine 8 am Bandel local from home to Sealdah. He stared at the closure notice on the shutters. "There was no time last week to follow the news... I can take an auto to Beliaghata, then another to Salt Lake-Sector V crossing, followed by a bus to the office," he said. Eventually, he told his superiors about his inability to attend work. "Despite many attempts, alternative transport was elusive," Basu said on the phone in the evening.
Howrah resident Sanjay Yadav, employed at a manufacturing firm in Park Street, said, "I wish I could take the day off. Instead of a seamless metro ride with a single ticket — Howrah Maidan-Esplanade-Park Street — I must run after buses now, bracing for multiple journeys. Missing the AC metro on a sultry day like this is adding to my worry."
Students Khushi Pandey and Shahnawaz Akbar from Howrah were worried about missing lectures. "Even with a shuttle to Esplanade and then a bus to Kalighat, I don't see how I can reach my coaching class on time," Pandey said. "I will have to walk to Howrah station, take a ferry to Strand Road and board a bus to Hazra" said Akbar.
Each noted that a similar block would be implemented for four days from Feb 20 to 23. "I will have to start early tomorrow," said Budge Budge resident Subhra Dutta, who had come to Sealdah to take the metro to Salt Lake.