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Time of India
29-07-2025
- 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
04-06-2025
- General
- Time of India
Lone rake pulls Purple Line ops, normal services from today
1 2 3 Kolkata: The currently operational curtailed services of the Joka-Esplanade Metro are likely to continue to face challenges unless new rakes are added immediately. An official, however, said late on Wednesday that normal services would be available from Thursday. Till the beginning of May, the Joka-Majerhat section of the Purple Line ran on a basic signalling system, offering 18 services at 50-minute intervals, from 8.55 am to 3.35 pm. Following the advanced signalling upgrade, 44 services were added from May 9, and the six-hour services doubled. The automatic CBTC or communication-based train control signal helps improve frequencies. Even as the operational window was expanded (8 am to 8 pm), the old system continued, with a single rake running up and down the 8-km corridor, while another remained on standby. In the extreme heat, the CBTC-compliant rakes, which require meticulous maintenance, became overworked, and consequently, the speed slowed down. The targeted 24-minute frequencies couldn't be met, officials said. On Monday evening, one of the rakes (No. 417) failed, following which the reserved train was put into service. Instead of 62 services, 48 were provided at 40-minute intervals. "The Purple Line rake runs at around 30 kmph, covering 8 km in 16-17 minutes. Add 5 minutes for reversing. That's a 24-minute gap between two services, rather tight for an overworked rake," an official said. Kolkata Metro is supposed to receive 20 new eight-coach rakes in the next 10 months for the Purple, Orange (New Garia-Ruby), and Yellow (Noapara-Airport) lines, which are ready for meaningful expansions. "Equipped with an automatic CBTC signalling system, the Medha rakes made in Chennai's Integral Coach Factory should reach Kolkata Metro within the current fiscal," an official said. Another 37 rakes were also ready, but the dispatching schedule had not been finalized, he said. Metro Railway's fully air-conditioned fleet currently includes 31 rakes for the Blue (North-South), three for the Orange, two for the Purple, and 17 six-coach BEML rakes for Green (East-West Metro) lines. "Clearly that's not enough for an expanding Metro network. There aren't enough manpower either to seamlessly run the existing 31km North-South (Blue) line, which ferries six lakh passengers daily, and East-West Metro, with a lakh daily passenger count. When the EW Metro starts its full 16-km length, another five lakh passengers will use the services every day. On top of this, the Purple and Orange lines are being expanded, and the Yellow line is set to roll out," said Subhasis Sengupta, vice-president, INTTUC-affiliated Metro Railway Pragatisil Sramik Karmachari Union. "Metro just about managed when the Purple Line was being run for six hours, on a single shift of workers, with one rake at its disposal. When hours doubled, two shifts were introduced, with limited manpower. The system is bound to fall apart if operations are expanded without strengthening infrastructure."
