The construction of India’s first underwater tunnel under the Hooghly River in Kolkata, which will provide metro connectivity between Howrah and Kolkata, is currently underway and will be completed by 2023.
520 meters of the 16.6-kilometer east-west stretch will be beneath the riverbed. The tunnel corridor will connect Kolkata and Howrah and will be built 33 meters below the riverbed.
In terms of the underwater tunnel’s safety measures, site supervisor Mithun Ghosh told news agency ANI that there would be walkways in the tunnels for passenger evacuation in the event of an emergency.
“Important passagework has also been done,” Ghosh said, “keeping in mind that if a technical problem occurs inside the water tunnel area, passengers can be taken out through the special passage.”
“The station is being built at a depth of 33 meters beneath the Hooghly river. Eighty percent of the work has been completed, with the remaining twenty percent to be completed. By 2023, it will be operational “Ghosh continued.
The Kolkata Metro East-West line will connect the Howrah and Mahakaran metro stations, according to previous reports. Passengers traveling between these two metro stations will be submerged for nearly a minute. According to reports, the Kolkata Metro train travels at a speed of 80 kilometers per hour. Passengers will have a one-of-a-kind travel experience thanks to the Kolkata Metro rail network’s upcoming underwater tunnel.
Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM) had to be imported from Switzerland by Shapoorji Pallonji for the construction of this corridor, according to National Herald.