Kolkata Metro Railways

Description

The Kolkata Metro or Calcutta Metro is a metro system serving the city of Kolkata and the districts of South 24 Parganas and North 24 Parganas in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the first Underground metro railway system in India. The network consists of one operational line (Line 1) and one under construction (Line 2), with four further lines in various stages of planning. It was the first such form of transport in India, opening for commercial services in 1984. It is the 17th zone of the Indian Railways system.

Twenty-seven years after it created history in India - and our very own, the city of rallies - the Kolkata Metro now often disappoints the harried commuter who had learnt to take it for granted. But how about Kolkata's lifeline stretching to 110km from a humble 25km in the next three years?

No matter how stuttering the progress of work sounds, compared to the Delhi Metro, the four-fold expansion is destined to change the life and times for the Kolkata suburbia forever. Add to it the worldclass East-West Metro, which will take you from Salt Lake's Sector V to Howrah in 30 minutes flat, and Kolkata looks set for a new era in public transportation.

The Dum Dum-Kavi Subhas Metro - the country's first - carries 6 lakh passengers a day. You can zip below the traffic chaos at 55kmph and make it from the northern fringes to the southern suburbs in 49 minutes. From one axis, the Metro is well on way to becoming a network.