The work on the proposed East-West metro in Bengal, which will connect the satellite town of Salt Lake to the twin city of Howrah across a 15 km stretch, is on fast track and will be completed within two and a half years, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today said.
Speaking at the 'Bengal Global Business Summit' here, Prabhu said "tunnelling work" has already begun as the work is on fast track in other locations.
"Before coming here, I have had a meeting. Work has begun on the E-W metro project. It will be completed in another two and half years," he said.
"We have decided to invest 140 billion US dollars in the railways in next five years plan," he said at the summit here.
The first phase of the proposed metro rail services in Kolkata is expected to be operational in June 2018, after several revised deadlines.
Prabhu informed that the ambitious dedicated freight corridor will be completed in another three years (around 2019) to allow faster movement of goods and cargo,while direct linkages to ports will be another benefit.
He said tenders worth Rs 19,000 crore have already been awarded in the last six months and tenders double the amount will be issued in the coming days.
Asserting that the railways would work towards implementing West Bengal's railway projects, Prabhu said railways was in advanced stage for awarding contracts for manufacture of rolling stock here in the state.
Initially proposed in 2008, the Rs 5,000-crore East-West Metro Railway project was to be completed in several phases.
In the first phase, the project - having an (approx) 8 km stretch - will connect the IT hub of Salt Lake (in the East) to the city's central part in Sealdah.
The second phase of the project will connect the twin cities of Kolkata and Howrah, covering a stretch of about 7 km between Sealdah (in Central Kolkata) and Howrah Maidan (West of Kolkata).
Earlier at a programme in Howrah, the Railway minister also announced Green Energy Initiatives in stations and rakes of Metro Railway. "This is being done to reduce carbon footprint for a cleaner environment," he said.
Prabhu flagged off three new trains for the South Eastern Railway, namely Howrah-Yesvantpur Weekly AC Express, Howrah-Pune Suvidha AC Express and Panskura-Digha EMU, here at the Howrah station.
He also inaugurated five new train services and extension of four existing local trains, besides launching a mobile app for paperless ticketing system for the suburban services of Eastern Railway.
