Two pedestrian subways have to be built for smooth flow of traffic and to reduce crossovers in the city’s central business district in Dalhousie once the East-West Metro between Howrah and Esplanade is operational, police have told Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC).
The KMRC is the implementing agency of the new Metro link.
The subways will have to be built to cater to passengers using the Mahakaran Metro station, which has come up opposite the Writers’ Buildings, the police have told KMRC in a letter.
One of the proposed pedestrian subways will bring passengers from the spot that used to be the minibus stand of the Writers’ Buildings on Old Court House Street to the Old Currency Building on RN Mukherjee Road.
The other one will be for passengers to cross Telephone Bhawan in Dalhousie and go towards Red Cross Place leading to Raj Bhavan’s north gate.
“We expect several hundreds of commuters to head to the New Secretariat building and several courts, including the high court, Bankshall court and the city civic court, to use the Mahakaran station,” said an officer.
“This is one of the busiest parts of Dalhousie and if pedestrians continue to cross over, movement of vehicles including buses will be hit.”
The police request comes ahead of the proposed inauguration of the country’s first underwater Metro service between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. Modi is scheduled to inaugurate several other Metro projects across the city.
Metro railway officials said after the inauguration of the Howrah Maidan-Esplanade link, engineers will complete some of the work on passenger amenities before launching the service commercially.
Police officers said they have recently assessed the traffic load in the area around Lal Dighi and Ganesh Chandra Avenue in Dalhousie and realised movement of small vehicles along with buses and minibuses will be hit during peak hours if a steady stream of Metro passengers cross the roads to reach Mahakaran station.
“The junction of Old Court House Street and RN Mukherjee Road is one of the busiest in central Kolkata. Traffic moves in all directions,” an officer said. “We have requested KMRC to take up the project on a priority basis.”
Besides Mahakaran, the police are also worried about passengers at Esplanade Metro station, particularly from the gate on RR Avenue.
The police have urged KMRC to ensure passengers can disperse through multiple gates at Esplanade station to avoid pedestrian crossovers from one point resulting in slowing down of traffic.
“There are plans to construct a subway in the non-ticketing section at Mahakaran station. We will meet the police shortly for a joint inspection,” a KMRC official said.