Kolkata Creates History, Becomes First Indian City To Get...

A Dream 53 Years In The Making: Kolkata has always been a city of firsts. It got India's first metro in 1984 — four decades before any other Indian city. Then, in March 2024, it did it again. The Howrah Maidan–Esplanade metro section, passing below the Hooghly river through India's first ever underwater transportation tunnel, began commercial operations — and on day one alone, over 70,000 passengers stepped aboard. A 53-year-old dream had finally come true.

Under A River That Divides Two Cities: For generations, the Hooghly river has separated Kolkata and Howrah — two cities, one soul. Crossing it meant the Howrah Bridge, a ferry, or bumper-to-bumper traffic. Now, a 520-metre stretch of metro track runs 30 metres below the riverbed, connecting the two cities in under a minute. What once took 20 minutes by ferry or an hour by road now takes less time than brewing a cup of chai.

The Engineering Behind The Magic: Building a tunnel under a living, flowing river is not simple. Two tunnels — for onward and return journeys — were bored 13 metres beneath the riverbed and 30 metres from the ground level. The project involved massive rock excavation, large-scale concrete work, and years of painstaking engineering by teams who refused to let the mighty Hooghly win. When they finally broke through, India had joined a select band of nations with underwater metro tunnels.

The Deepest Station In India: Every great tunnel needs a great station at its end. Howrah Metro Station sits 33 metres below the surface — making it the deepest metro station in all of India. To put that in perspective, that is roughly the height of an eleven-storey building — except it is all underground, beneath one of India's busiest and most historic railway hubs. Standing on that platform, you are deeper underground than almost anywhere else in the country.

The Day Kolkata Came Out To Ride: When PM Modi inaugurated the line on 6 March 2024 and commercial services began on 15 March, Kolkata did not wait to be told twice. Over 70,000 passengers rode the underwater stretch on the very first day — 23,444 boarding at Howrah Maidan and 20,923 at Howrah station alone. The city that pioneered metro rail in India had once again shown the rest of the country what it means to make history feel like home.

What It Means For Kolkata's Future: The underwater metro is not just a record — it is a lifeline. The full East-West Metro corridor stretches 16.6 km, connecting Howrah Maidan on the west to Salt Lake Sector V — Kolkata's IT hub — on the east. For daily commuters, IT professionals, and the millions who cross between Kolkata and Howrah every day, this is not just an engineering marvel. It is time saved, stress reduced, and a city finally connected the way it always deserved to be.