Yellow Line: Noapara link between home & the world
Times of India | 23 August 2025
Kolkata: From Monday, flyers arriving at the airport can travel to nearly anywhere in the city in less than an hour. The Yellow Line, which will connect seamlessly with the Blue Line, will allow commuters to travel from airport to New Garia in the extreme south, to Dakshineswar in the north, to Howrah across the Hooghly in the west and Sector V in Salt Lake in the east after switching over to the Green Line at Esplanade.
A few steps and then an 80m ‘walkalator' will take you from airport's terminal building to Jai Hind metro station, on to Noapara from where you can travel anywhere in the city and Howrah via the Blue Line or the North-South Metro and the Green Line or East-West Metro's Howrah or Sealdah side using the Esplanade interchange. "The 6.7-km Noapara-Airport corridor or the Yellow Line finally got the green signal for operations. The corridor, which underwent inspection by the CRS only a week ago, and was earlier preparing for a March launch, has finally been commissioned," an official from an agency implementing the project said. | Gold Rates Today in Kolkata | Silver Rates Today in KolkataThe best thing about the airport travel is superior travel that comes at an amazingly subsidised cost. You pay only Rs 45 to zip from Jai Hind metro station at airport to Shahid Khudiram, the new terminal for the Blue Line, and Rs 30 for a trip from airport to Dakshineswar.
Officials of Metro said Jai Hind, which will host another route, the Orange Line, by next year, will add 30,000 daily commuters to North-South and East-West Metros, truly living up to its "airport hub" status. To accommodate all passengers from the Orange Line, which will eventually connect Airport and New Garia across 29 km, the Jai Hind station covers 29,000 sqm, including a sprawling concourse and five platforms. For now, platforms 1 and 2 will be operational. Platforms 3, 4, and 5 are meant for Orange Line.
The first phase of the Yellow Line has four stations — Noapara, Dum Dum Cantonment, Jessore Road, and Jai Hind Bimanbandar (airport). The line goes underground from Jessore Road. The first full-fledged trial run on the 7.4km Noapara-Jai Hind Bimanbandar section took place on Jan 24.
Four rakes may be earmarked for commercial services on the section. "Number of rakes will depend on frequency and footfall," said an official. The eight-coach rakes that run on Blue Line will be used on Yellow Line. Metro has four China-made rakes ready for use on the line. Last year, Metro planned the 3km Noapara-Dum Dum Cantonment stretch as part of Yellow Line Phase I.