Latest news with #MetroRailway
Time of India
17 hours ago
- General
- Time of India
Kavi Subhash stn to be razed, truncated N-S Metro services for at least a year
Kolkata: Commuters may have to wait an entire year to use Kavi Subhash metro station, the terminal station of the North-South Blue Line, which is also the city's lifeline. Metro Railway has decided to demolish the station and rebuild it after cracks appeared on its columns, which were found to be beyond repair. "We have already started the razing work. Workers have been assigned to dismantle parts of the station – the signal and telecom (ST) equipment and so on," a senior official of Metro Railway said on Tuesday, a day after the station was shut down and metro services terminated at Sahid Khudiram. When asked to comment, Metro Railway general manager P Uday Kumar Reddy said: "The station's piers or columns on which the platform stands have weakened beyond repair. If the pillars are to be dismantled, how can the station remain? The entire Kavi Subhash station will have to be rebuilt." You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata The general manager added that Metro Railway has been planning to rectify the constructional defects of Kavi Subhash station for some time now. "We have invited tenders from contractors who can do the restoration work. We would have started after Durga Puja. But now, we are suddenly faced with an emergency situation with the heavy downpour that seemed to have led to some ground subsidence. Therefore, the work has to be taken up without further delay. " The Officials confirmed that this was the first time in the history of Kolkata Metro that a station was being dismantled and rebuilt. "All the other 25 stations of the 40-year-old North-South line, extended in various phases to Kavi Subhash in the south and Dakshineswar on the northern fringes, are in good shape," an official said. The 32km Blue Line's southern extension happened in two phases in 2009-10, first between the then terminal Tollygunge or Uttam Kumar metro station to Garia Bazar (Kavi Nazrul) and then to New Garia (Kavi Subhash). The final section in the southern end was opened in Oct 2010. "Over the last four decades, the corridor has remained the city's transportation lifeline, ferrying around 6 lakh passengers every day, but no other station's design has been as flawed as the terminal Kavi Subhash station. The station's overhaul has been long overdue because the authorities have been aware of the structural issues," said Subhasis Sengupta, vice-president, the INTTUC-affiliated Metro Railway Progotisil Shramik Karmachari Union. Metro officials said the process of inviting bids for rebuilding Kavi Subhash station is underway. "We were a bit unprepared for what happened yesterday. Different kinds of planning are going on. Our utmost priority is passenger safety and security. We shall also try our best to get the work completed as quickly as possible, so that operations can be resumed at Kavi Subhash station," the Metro GM said. He said the station would be opened to the public as soon as the rebuilt station was in a position to run trains safely. The superficial and architectural works can continue even after the station has started functioning, an official said.
Time of India
2 days ago
- General
- Time of India
New Garia Metro station closed after cracks found in pillars
1 2 Kolkata: The North-South Metro's terminal Kavi Subhas station at New Garia was closed temporarily after cracks were discovered in the last four pillars on which the Up platform stands. All trains are now being terminated at Shahid Khudiram, the elevated metro station at Dhalai Bridge in Garia. It is the second last metro station on the city's southern fringes. Metro Railway workers spotted the cracks in the pillars on Monday morning and alerted their supervisors, following which inspections were conducted. "Around 12.45 pm, the metro station's services were suspended. Preliminary investigations suggest ground subsidence due to the heavy downpour over the past few days. The uneven ground settlement seemed to have caused cracks on the four piers on the Up platform at Kavi Subhas station. As a measure of precaution and to ensure the safety of passengers, services to and from Kavi Subhas station have been withdrawn. We are trying to resume operations from the terminal station as soon as possible," a metro spokesperson said, adding, "Train services on the Blue Line will operate between Shahid Khudiram and Dakshineswar in both Up and Down directions till further notice. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Indonesia: Unsold Sofas at Bargain Prices (Prices May Surprise You) Sofas | Search Ads Search Now Undo The damage is being assessed. Necessary repair and rehabilitation work will be taken up in a planned manner immediately." Empty rakes will continue to run up to Kavi Subhas station for reversal and maintenance at the depot with the terminal complex. Kavi Subhas is also the terminal station for the Orange Line or the New Garia-Airport corridor. The pillars on which the elevated Orange Line station stands are relatively new. Trains operated normally on this line. You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata Passengers like Moumita Sarkar, who lives in New Garia, were taken aback on Monday afternoon when she tried taking the afternoon metro from Kavi Subhas to her workplace in were erratic on the North-South line throughout the day. "I sensed something amiss as the digital signboards for the next train's timing went blank and trains arrived late," said Dipti Raut, a passenger at Park Street station. Officials confirmed this was the first time since the North-South Line's southern extension (in two phases in 2009-10) to New Garia from Tollygunge that a metro station was closed. "The design of the elevated section from Tollygunge to Kavi Subhas is flawed. The pier strengthening work was supposed to start long ago. But Metro Railway authorities have sat on inviting bids and initiating the repair work," said Subhasis Sengupta, vice-president, INTTUC-affiliated Metro Railway Progotisil Shramik Karmachari Union.
Time of India
7 days ago
- Time of India
Metro rider defacing rake caught on CCTV
Kolkata: Metro Railway obtained CCTV footage showing an individual vandalising the closed doors of a moving Blue Line Metro train using spray paint on June 27. "We came across it during retrospective CCTV footage analysis. The man was travelling on rake MR-409. We will inform cops. Damaging Metro property is a punishable offence," a Metro official said. The video captures the individual, who had a backpack and was seated near the rear of a carriage, approaching the doors, retrieving black spray paint and making cross patterns on the doors' surface. You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata Metro authorities confirmed it was an Up train. "It is still not clear whether the train was Dakshineswar- or Dum Dum-bound," the Metro official said. The same spray paint was reportedly used to deface a wall at a Garia complex where anti-national slogans, like "Azad Kashmir", was spray painted. Cops confirmed the match through forensic analysis on Thursday.
Time of India
12-07-2025
- General
- Time of India
Suicide bid at Central stn stalls Metro services for 1 hour
Kolkata: Metro services on the North-South (Blue) line were disrupted for an hour on Saturday following a suicide bid at Central station. Though truncated services were operated, several commuters were hassled as no trains were available in the Maidan-Girish Park section until 12.55 pm. Around 11.55 am, a man jumped before a Dakshineswar-bound train at the Central station, a Metro Railway spokesperson said. The third rail, which supplies electricity to the rakes, was switched off to rescue the man from the tracks and give him medical aid. "Truncated services were run between Maidan and New Garia (Kavi Subhas) stations and between Girish Park and Dakshineswar stations for an hour," the Metro official said. You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata Cops from Bowbazar PS were called in. The man reportedly survived. Normal services on the entire New Garia-Dakshineswar stretch resumed from 12.55 pm. Even as the rush hour was just ending and it was a Saturday, several commuters were inconvenienced with no services being provided from either the northern or the southern terminals to the central business district. "As trains were going up to Maidan, I decided to avail the Metro and take a bus to my workplace at Chandni Chowk. Fortunately, I managed to board a crowded bus even as I was late for work by an hour," Abhirup Das, an executive, said. tnn
Time of India
10-07-2025
- General
- Time of India
‘Durga' starts working under Purple Line of Kolkata Metro
Kolkata: There are 72 days still left for Mahalaya but Durga has started her journey — not from the heavens, rather beneath the earth. It is not the deity but the tunnel boring machine S1410 — used for the Purple Line metro works — nicknamed 'Durga. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now ' The tunnelling for the 5 km Mominpur-Esplanade section of the Purple Line began on Thursday. The machine started burrowing at Kidderpore to build one of the twin underground tunnels. "This is a historic day for Kolkata. Tunnelling starts days after the state govt finally allowed Metro to use land at Alipore Bodyguard Lines for key Purple Line station construction at Kidderpore," Metro Railway general manager, P Uday Kumar Reddy said, after pressing a button for the giant machine to roll below the 236-year-old St Thomas' Boys' School at Kidderpore. Sibling TBM Divya (S1410A), being assembled inside the same 17 m-deep launching shaft, will start digging a month later to maintain a 150 m gap with Durga. The duo's first stop will be at the Victoria Memorial, across 1.7 km. The 95 m long borers will be relaunched from the Victoria Metro station box for another 950 m of tunnelling to Park Street, beyond which the 640 m stretch to Esplanade will be built using the cut-and-cover method (without TBMs). "Durga should reach Victoria by May 2026 and Park Street by Dec 2026," Vipin Kumar, chief project manager of the project implementing agency, Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), said. Other RVNL officials, including executive director (ED) Amit Tandon, attended the Puja to mark the occasion. The Purple Line (14 km Joka-Esplanade corridor) now runs on an elevated 8 km Joka-Majerhat stretch. It will duck underground near Ekbalpore, not far from the last elevated station at Mominpore. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now TOI reported on Mar 9 that mammoth 650-tonne tunnel boring machine had completed 1,600-km journey from Tamil Nadu to Kolkata. Guided by superior technology, the earth pressure balance (EPB) machines can dig through rock, soil or sand to build tunnels with precast segment rings. Traditionally, TBMs are given feminine names from the time when Saint Barbara, patron saint of miners, would be invoked to save those working with explosives for underground construction in the 16th century. "In the land of Maa Durga, it only seemed appropriate to christen a TBM after the deity. The twin TBM is called Divya, which, in Sanskrit, stands for divine," an official explained. The TBMs were assembled in Herrenknecht's Alinjivakkam unit in Tamil Nadu. "Durga, with a 6.6 m outer diameter arrived in March and was subsequently lowered in the St Thomas' launching shaft," Kumar said. Extra precautions are being taken to ensure the TBMs dig safely, taking note of the East-West Metro tunnelling fiasco in Bowbazar, the Metro GM said. On the Orange line's Chingrighata hurdle, he said, "The railway minister recently requested the state govt to take the project forward. The cost is soaring. It's the taxpayers' money."
