The power track

The Kolkata Metro, the oldest Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) in the country, is generally dismissed as the poor country cousin of the Delhi Metro. With its shiny interiors and state-of-the-art coaches, the Delhi Metro has even been rated among the top five metros of the world. However, on the day that the north, east and north-east were plunged into darkness and the Delhi Metro came to a grinding halt, the unglamorous Kolkata Metro continued to ply. That’s because the Delhi Metro’s power supply is solely dependant on the northern grid, whereas the Kolkata service can rely on the privately-run CESC’s captive power plant in times of emergency. So while Delhites had a harrowing time on that fateful day, stuck inside coaches in dark underground tunnels, Kolkata Metro commuters – for once – were a notch above their Delhi counterparts.