• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Kolkata Metro’s Esplanade-Howrah Maidan section, which passes below the mighty Hooghly river through the country’s first underwater transportation tunnel.

• He also took a ride on a metro train from Esplanade to Howrah Maidan on March 6.

• The 4.8-km Esplanade-Howrah Maidan stretch, which is a part of the East-West Corridor, has been built at a cost of Rs 4,960 crore.

• The PM also inaugurated the 1.25-km-long Taratala-Majherhat section of the Joka-Esplanade line. It has been built at a cost of Rs 520 crore.

• The Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section of the East-West corridor has a   transportation tunnel under Hooghly river. It passes under the Hooghly river, on the east and west banks of which Kolkata and Howrah are situated.

• The stretch also has the deepest metro station in the country — the Howrah metro station, at 32 metre below the ground.

• The East-West metro corridor, the construction for which commenced on April 14, 2009, has suffered several delays owing to various issues, including accidents at Bowbazar in central Kolkata.

• The stretch between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade is the second section of the corridor, in which commercial operations would begin. With this, only the Esplanade-Sealdah stretch of the line is left to be completed.

• Of the total 16.6 km length of the line, the underground section is 10.8 km long between Howrah Maidan and Phoolbagan, while the rest is elevated.

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