Kolkata, June 8 -- The long-stalled Baranagar-Barrackpore Metro corridor may finally move towards implementation, with renewed efforts to revive the project that has remained on paper since it was approved in 2010.
The proposed 12.5-km corridor, planned as Kolkata Metro's Pink Line, was sanctioned when Mamata Banerjee was the Railway minister. The project, originally estimated to cost Rs 2,069 crore, envisages an elevated Metro route connecting Baranagar and Barrackpore through 11 stations.
Fresh optimism has emerged over the project amid efforts to address long-standing obstacles that prevented construction from beginning despite the preparation of a detailed project report in 2011. The principal hurdle has been the presence of major water transmission pipelines beneath BT Road along the proposed alignment. Two key pipelines, measuring 60 inches and 42 inches in diameter, carry treated water from the Palta Water Treatment Plant to the Tala reservoir, from where it is supplied to large parts of North and Central Kolkata.
Under an agreement between the railways and Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), a new 64-inch diameter pipeline was installed in 2012 to facilitate the eventual removal of the older pipelines. However, the original lines remained in place and the project failed to move beyond the planning stage.
Following the change of government in the state last month, the Railway Board has revisited the project and initiated fresh efforts to resolve the deadlock. Officials of Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), the implementing agency for the corridor, recently held discussions with KMC officials on shifting the water transmission lines.
The issue also figured during Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw's recent visit to Kolkata. During a meeting attended by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, several BJP ministers and legislators from the Barrackpore industrial belt including Arjun Singh and Koustav Bagchi sought early commencement of the metro project and urged the Centre to remove the remaining bottlenecks.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.