Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday unveiled multiple metro projects across the country, including India's first underwater metro line in Kolkata.
The Rs 4,965-crore Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section of Kolkata Metro's East-West Corridor, which has the first transportation tunnel "under any mighty river in India", was inaugurated by the PM.
The stretch also has the deepest metro station in the country -- the Howrah metro station. After the inauguration programme, Modi took a metro ride from Esplanade to Howrah Maidan along with school children.
The under-river section of the tunnel is 520 metres long, and a train will take around 45 seconds to cross it, officials said. From the function at the Esplanade metro station, the PM also inaugurated the Kavi Subhash-Hemanta Mukhopadhyay section of the New Garia-Aiport line and the Taratala-Majerhat section of the Joka-Esplanade line of the Kolkata Metro, the country's oldest metro network.
The Majerhat metro station is a unique elevated installation across railway lines, platforms and a canal, an official statement said.
Modi also inaugurated the Duhai-Modinagar (North) section of the Delhi-Meerut RRTS Corridor, Pune Metro's Ruby Hall Clinic-Ramwadi stretch, Kochi Metro's SN Junction to Tripunithura section and Agra Metro's Taj East Gate-Mankameshwar section.