The work for the Kolkata Metro project’s Orange line at Chingrighata, which had been stalled for a long time, may begin soon, as the police have prepared an alternative route for the vehicles to make way for peak-hour Metro construction-related road blocks.
According to sources, the Beleghata Traffic Police have begun the trial run for the traffic diversion of vehicles moving towards Ultadanga from EM Bypass to construct three metro piers at Chingrighata.
Currently, the diversion will be active during peak hours twice a day -– 8 am to 11.30 am and 5 pm to 8.30 pm. Though the diversion is necessary to carry out the construction between midnight and 5 am, the trial has been planned during peak hours to help the traffic police get accustomed to the situation and act accordingly.
According to sources, the trial has begun with heavy vehicles such as buses, minibuses, and dumpsters being diverted along the new route. If the trial is successful, then it will be implemented, keeping the old route partially open, they said, indicating that the commuters will be put through fewer hardships during Metro works.
Once the trial run is successful, the police will inform the court about the matter, and a decision on the time and process for starting the work will be made through the court’s mediation, said a source.
According to a senior police officer, heavy vehicles will use the newly built road to bypass a certain stretch of the EM Bypass and again use the main carriageway before the Canal South Road.
According to sources, the road has been divided into two parts before the Chingrighata flyover. Before going up to the flyover, buses and freight vehicles are being diverted to the new road on an experimental basis and taken to the bypass. And motorbikes, taxis, or small cars are moving through the bypass as usual. The flyover can also be taken to go to Sector 5, New Town, or Salt Lake.
Viaduct construction of Orange Line stalled for over a year
For more than a year, the construction of a ‘viaduct’ on a 366-metre section of the 30-kilometre Orange Line (Kabi Subhash to Airport, via Rajarhat) near Chingrighata has been stalled. Although Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) had already constructed four pillars (317, 318, 319, 320), the ‘viaduct’ could not be installed due to traffic chaos, prompting the authorities to end the service at Beleghata, which is short of 10 km from the airport.
The RVNL, the implementing agency for the upcoming Orange Line, has been seeking permission from the police for night traffic blocks around Chingrighata on EM Bypass since November to launch concrete blocks between 317, 318, and 319 piers for bridging the 366-metre gap.
If the ‘viaduct’ problem is resolved, services will be available right up to the airport.
The Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court, comprising Chief Justice Sujoy Pal and Justice Parthasarathy Sen, while intervening in the traffic logjam caused by road blocks, had fixed February 15, 2026, as the deadline for completion of a stalled stretch of the Orange Line Metro project at Chingrighata.