THE UNDERWATER METRO

The country's first underwater metro will start in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, where the metro will run 26 meters below the Hooghly River. It is believed that this service will be started in December this year. The underwater metro will run on the East-West corridor of Kolkata. For this, contracts were signed with different companies in 2009. Work started in 2010. The biggest challenge on this corridor was to build a 520-meter underwater tunnel in the Hooghly River near the Howrah Bridge. Which took 13 years to complete. Now 8 stations have been built here from Phase-1 to Salt Lake and Sealdah. The tunnel can withstand earthquakes, if water leaks then it will be known immediately. Another challenge in the underwater metro was waterproofing. Actually, this tunnel has been built 26 meters below the river. In such a situation, first of all, it was necessary to make sure that not a drop of water goes into the tunnel. Tunnel maker Afcons did this work with the Russian company Transtunneltroy.

According to company officials, it has been designed in such a way that if any water enters the tunnel, its gaskets will open. This tunnel can also bear earthquakes. The East-West Metro corridor is a total of 16.6 km long, here the metro will run at a speed of 80 km per hour, so it will take less than a minute for the metro to cross this 520-meter-long tunnel. There will be a total of 12 stations on this corridor, half of these stations will be underground. This tunnel will be the deepest tunnel in the country which is 30 meters below the ground. For this tunnel built under the Hooghly River of Kolkata, the work of just digging went on continuously for 67 days. According to the engineers, the digging of the tunnel started in 2017. This work had to be done continuously because the fear of leakage and subsidence was constant. In such a situation, the work could not be stopped even for a single day.

THE WATER METRO

After the underwater metro in Kolkata, now the above-water metro is about to start in Kochi, Kerala. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated it in Thiruvananthapuram on 25 April. Not only this country, it will be Asia's first water metro. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has termed it as the dream project of the state. The Water Metro project has been built in collaboration with the Government of Kerala and KfW which is a funding agency. About Rs 1,136.83 crore has been spent in preparing this project. This project will connect the port city of Kochi with 10 nearby islands. Battery-operated hybrid boats will be used for the water metro. Special care has been taken for the convenience of the elderly and differently-abled in the Water Metro. Fully air-conditioned, these metros will be eco-friendly. Water Metro service will be available from 7 am to 8 pm. The Water Metro will be available at 15-15-minute intervals during peak hours of the day.

78 electric boats will be used in the water metro project. At present, this metro service will be available between High Court to Vypin Terminal and Vittila to Kakkanad Terminal. There will be a total of 38 terminals in this project. It will take 20 minutes to cover the distance between Vypin and High Court and 25 minutes to cover the distance between Vyttila and Kakkanad. Passengers will also be able to travel in the water metro with the Kochi Metro card. Passengers will have to use their Kochi 1 card for this. Not only cards, but passes will also be available to travel by water metro which will be issued weekly, monthly, and for three months. Apart from this, passengers can also book digital tickets if they wish. A weekly pass of the water metro should be available for Rs 180, which can travel 12 times. You will have to pay Rs 600 for a monthly pass in which you can travel 50 times. Whereas for three months i.e., 90 days pass, you will have to pay Rs 1500 so that you can travel 150 times.