Kolkata Metro
Almost everyone in India knows that Kolkata Metro is the first metro System in India. So, we would like to start with it and post information on it's history as the first metro in India takes shape.
The history of Kolkata Metro goes back farther than the 1970's or 60's. The first proposal of a Metro raliway in Kolkata was during the British Raj by Harley Dalrymple-Hay in 1921! This effort was not undertaken due to a lack of funds.
Some 30 years later, after independence, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, revived the idea of building a metro railway in Kolkata. A survey was undertaken which proved to be useless. The main reason for this was because Kolkata's roads only accounted for 4.2% of the total area of the city compared to 25% and even 30% in other cities across India.
To desperately end the sufferings of the people, the Metropolitian Transport Project or the MTP was formed in 1969 that gave Kolkata it's metro and the Chennai MRTS. The MTP consulted some foreign engineers and proposed 5 routes totalling to 97.5km of metro railway in the city. However, only three were selected for construction. They are as follows:
- Dum Dum to Tollygunge
- Salt lake City to Ramrajatala
- Dakineshwar to Takhurpukur
Of these three corridors, the Dum Dum to Tollygunge corridor of length 16.45km was given the highest priority. This route was worked upon and was sanctioned in 1 June 1972.
The foundation stone for the project was laid on 29/12/1972 by the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi and construction works started in 1973-74.
Right from the start, the metro faced insufficient funds and Huge land encroachment problems. But despite difficulties, the authorities managed to open a section between current day Esplanade and Netaji Bhavan on 24/10/1984 as India's first operational Metro Railway. From then on, the Metro Railway opened small Stretches here and there and completely opened the line on 27/09/1995.
The stations of the metro were just a little better than Indian Railway stations, and due to the lack of funds, ICF was given the contract to manufacture NON-AC metro rakes. This is the sole problem in the metro from the start. Also, the other reason why Kolkata chose ICF to manufacture metro is because the Ministry of Railways forced Kolkata to choose Broad gauge system instead of standard gauge. Because of all these issues, Kolkata Metro still stays to be the worst metro in India. Hope it gets better over time.
Kolkata metro also operates a typical Indian Railway signalling system called TPWS or Train Protection and Waring System. It usually runs trains at a frequency of 5 to 20 mins.
Nowadays, the Kolkata Metro operates on 2 lines, i.e., The North-South Metro from Noapara to Kavi Subhash and the East-West Metro from Sector-V to Phoolbagan. The system has 2 depos: One at Noapara on 60 acres for housing Broad Gauge Trains of North-South Metro and One at Central Park for Standard gauge trains of East-West Metro. The East-West Metro is the only line of Kolkata Metro to use Standard Gauge railway lines.
THIS WAS THE PAST, STAY TUNED FOR THE PRESENT...
Source:
Kolkata Metro - Information, Map & Updates
themetrorailguy.com