Overview | |
---|---|
Locale | Kolkata, West Bengal, India |
Transit type | Rapid Transit |
Number of lines | 1 (Operational) 5 (Under Construction) |
Number of stations |
24 Stations (Line 1/ North South Metro) |
Daily ridership | Over 650,000 |
Chief executive |
MC ChauhanGeneral Manager (Metro Railway, Kolkata) MC chauhan, Chairman (KMRC) |
Headquarters |
Metro Railway, Kolkata Head Office - Metro Rail Bhavan, 33/1 J.L. Nehru Road, Kolkata - 700071 Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Head Office - HRBC Complex, KMRCL Bhawan, 2nd & 3rd Floor, Munsi Premchand Sarani, Kolkata - 700021 |
Website | |
Operation | |
Began operation | 24 October 1984 |
Operator(s) |
Metro Railway, Kolkata, 17th Railway Zone of Indian Railways, Operated by Ministry of Railways |
Number of vehicles | 27 |
Train length |
8 Coaches (Line 1, Line 3, Line 4, Line 5, Line 6 ) 6 Coaches (Line 2 ) |
Headway | 5, 6, 8, 10, 15 Minutes |
Technical | |
System length |
27.22 km ( Line 1, Operational) |
Track gauge |
1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) (Broad gauge) For Line 1, Line 3, Line 4, Line 5 and Line 6 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) (Standard gauge) For Line 2 |
Electrification | 750 V DC Third Rail |
Average speed | 55-60 KMPH |
24 Stations (Line 1/ North South Metro)
12 Stations (Line 2/ East West Metro)
12 Stations (Line 3/ Joka - B.B.D. Bagh)
9 Stations (Line 4/Noapara - Barasat)
11 Stations (Line 5/ Baranagar - Barrackpore)
MC ChauhanGeneral Manager (Metro Railway, Kolkata)
Metro Railway, Kolkata Head Office - Metro Rail Bhavan, 33/1 J.L. Nehru Road, Kolkata - 700071
Metro Railway, Kolkata, 17th Railway Zone of Indian Railways, Operated by Ministry of Railways
8 Coaches (Line 1, Line 3, Line 4, Line 5, Line 6 )
27.22 km ( Line 1, Operational)
31.55 km (Line 2, Under Construction)
17.75 km (Line 3, Under Construction)
18 km (Line 4, Under Construction)
29.10 km (Line 6, Under Construction)
The Kolkata Metro is a public sector undertaking organization and a rapid transit system serving the city of Kolkata and the districts of South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas and will soon serve Howrah in the Indian state of West Bengal. The network currently consists of one operational line of 27.22 km from Noapara to Kavi Subhash with five other lines in various phases of construction. The Kolkata Metro was the first metro railway in India, opening for commercial services from 1984. On 29 December 2010, Metro Railway, Kolkata became the 17th zone of the Indian Railways, operated by the Ministry of Railways. There are 300 metro services daily carrying over 650,000 passengers making it the second busiest metro system in India.
The then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, first conceived the idea of building an Underground Railway for Kolkata in early 1950s. A survey was done by a team of French experts, but nothing concrete came of this. Efforts to solve the problem by augmenting the existing fleet of public transport vehicles hardly helped, since roads accounted for only 4.2% of the surface area in Kolkata, compared with 25% in Delhi and even 30% in other cities. With the goal of finding alternative solutions to alleviate the suffering of commuters, the Metropolitan Transport Project (Railways) (MTP) was set up in 1969. The MTP (Rlys), with help of Soviet specialists (Lenmetroproekt) and East German engineers, prepared a master plan to provide five rapid-transit (metro) lines for the city of Kolkata, totalling a route length of 97.5 km in 1971. However, only three were selected for construction. These were: