Railway Minister Shri Piyush Goyal inaugurates Phoolbagan Metro station of East-West Metro corridor

Shri Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, Government of India inaugurated Phoolbagan Metro station of East-West Metro on 4th October, 2020. Shri Piyush Goyal also flagged off the first train from the newly inaugurated Phoolbagan station through video link. In his address, congratulating all for taking extra initiative to complete the work of Phoolbagan station in the midst of Covid-19 pandemic, Shri Goyal said that this extension of services from Salt Lake Stadium to Phoolbagan (a stretch of 1.665 kms) will be a great help for the commuters more so because of its proximity to Sealdah station.

  • Terming this as a gift for Durga Puja, he also said that Metro provides the safest, cleanest and fastest transportation system in Kolkata.
  • He has further reassured that if land is made available and encroachments are removed then funds won’t be a constraint for implementing any Railway project.
  • Shri Babul Supriyo, Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change congratulated Hon’ble Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry for taking the initiative to commission this modern and beautiful Phoolbagan Metro station so early. 
  • He expressed his hope that in the coming days people will be able to commute to and from Sealdah station easily due to this extension of East-West Metro. 
  • Sushri Debasree Chaudhuri, Minister of State for Women and Child Development was also present in this programme and expressed her happiness for commissioning of Phoolbagan station.
  • Shri Manoj Joshi, General Manager, Metro Railway, in his inaugural address spoke about how the opening of this station will facilitate Metro commuters to go to the IT Hub in Salt Lake Sector-V, International Bus Terminal and Mela Ground in Karunamoyee, important Government offices at Central Park and the famous Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (Salt Lake Stadium).
  • Total length of this project is 16.5 kms.and the total estimated project cost is Rs. 8574.98 Cr. 
  • This will connect Howrah on the West bank of the river Hooghly with Salt Lake City on its East bank.
  • The first-phase of the East-West Metro from Salt Lake Stadium to Salt Lake Sector V was inaugurated by Shri Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Minister of Railways and Commerce and Industry, Government of India on 13th February, 2020.
  • Commercial services to and from Phoolbagan station will start from 05.10.2020 (Monday). 
  • Daily 48 services will run from 08:00 hrs to 19:50 hrs from Salt Lake Sector-V to Phoolbagan at 30 minutes interval.  
  • The last service will start from Salt Lake Sector-V and Phoolbagan stations at 19:30 hrs.

Recent Progress:

  • Metro Railway has taken several measures to improve passenger amenities at different Metro stations during the lockdown due to Covid-19 pandemic. 
  • Replacement of old escalators with modern o­nes is going o­n in North-South Metro in this period.  
  • As a part of this initiative, replacement work of an old escalator at the Dumdum end of Mahatma Gandhi Road station has already been completed. 
  • Load Testing and other safety parameters checking of the new escalator have also been completed. 
  • Electrical and Civil Engineering Departments have worked in tandem to complete this work in record time maintaining all Covid-19 protocols.
  • This new escalator will be commissioned very soon after completion of some formal works.

Source: PIB-Press Release | Image Credit: Metro Railway, Kolkata