As a child, I loved listening to my grandmother’s stories. And one of my favourites was of her recounting her first Metro ride in the late 1980s. “We zipped past so many places underground in minutes,” she would say, the astonishment still intact in her voice.
Years later, when I came home from a surreal underwater ride in the Metro, two eager pairs of ears were waiting at home to hear about my experience.
Here’s my account of the first passenger trial run of the East-West Metro through the tunnel under Hooghly river.
The area around Howrah Maidan Metro station, from where we boarded the train Ashim Paul/My Kolkata
Reaching Howrah Maidan Metro station
While booking a cab, I had entered Howrah Maidan Metro station as my drop point. When the cab arrived, the elderly driver asked me, “Underwater Metro jekhane hochhe okhanei namben? Metro to chalu hoyni. (Do you want to get down where the underwater Metro is being constructed? But that isn’t serviceable yet.) I nodded ‘yes’, not letting out that I was going to be the few fortunate ones to experience the underwater ride before its commercial run.
Journalists assembled at the station Ashim Paul/My Kolkata
On reaching my destination, I spotted media vehicles lined up in front of Howrah Maidan Station. A few known faces greeted me and we went inside, registering our names in a big logbook. The trial run was supposed to begin at noon.
Waiting for the journey
Going down to the floor where the ticket counters are to come up, I was surprised at how big the place was. With a lot of work still underway, the station still looked like a big city airport. Escalators have been installed next to elevators to connect the ticketing floor to the platform. Here, I met my colleague — a photographer with years of experience — who was as excited as I was.
Waiting to board the train Amit Datta/My kolkata
Television journalists took over the place, shooting their piece to camera, as we waited to board the train. We took a look at a model of the East-West Metro Green Line route. “The route will cover 16.6 km from Howrah to Salt Lake sector V in about 40 minutes,” explained an official of the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC).
Briefing the passengers, KMRC general manager (administration) A.K. Nandy said, “Today, we have invited you all to take a ride with us from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade and back to Howrah Maidan. This journey includes a 520-metre stretch under the Hooghly riverbed. Once the route is operational, passengers will reach Dharmatala in eight minutes and Sealdah in 11 minutes from Howrah. The route has 12 stations from Salt Lake Sector V in the east to Howrah Maidan in the west.”
Train MR 612, which took us on the historic ride Amit Datta/My Kolkata
We were then led down to the platform where train no. MR-612 was waiting for us. “I am very excited,” said a senior journalist and we all agreed.
The journey
The KMRC opened two doors of the train for us. The rush to enter was exactly like boarding the Metro during office hours.
On stepping in, we occupied the six coaches of the Metro. While we looked around ourselves, taking in every detail, general manager Nandy communicated with us from the driver’s cabin about the protocols of the journey. I checked my phone, there was no network.
Inside the train Amit Datta/My Kolkata
In about 10 minutes, the gates closed and the journey began at 12.11pm from Howrah Maidan. We crossed Bankim Setu at 12.13pm and reached Howrah station at 12.14pm. In about two minutes, we were to go under the Hooghly river. We could feel the train moving downward during our journey from Howrah Maidan to Hooghly.
The driver stopped the train and Nandy announced that we were going to be the first passengers to cross the Hooghly river through India’s first underwater Metro tunnel. A few journalists clapped and cheered. As the train moved forward, Nandy kept telling us our position.
Photographers went into the driver’s cabin to take photographs. One by one, each of us got a chance to enter the driver’s cabin to see the tunnel ahead and speak to the driver.
One of the drivers Amit Datta/My Kolkata
We were driven by two drivers from BEML Limited, a ‘Schedule A’ Company under the Ministry of Defence, whose names are not to be revealed according to the protocol. One of the drivers who hails from Bangalore told us, “I am extremely happy and proud to operate this journey today for you all. It is a journey that will go down into the history of this country.”
We crossed the river in about five to six minutes. On a normal ride, the train will take only 45 seconds to zip past the river. When we completed crossing the river, it was 12.20pm.
We reached Esplanade in another 10-15 minutes as the train moved slowly for us to take photographs and videos. We stopped at Esplanade for a few minutes and were back on our way to Howrah Maidan Station. The return journey also gave us a second chance to travel through the underwater tunnel. We could not help but feel proud to be a part of the journey. We did not miss a chance to take photographs of ourselves this time.
A memorable journey comes to an end Ashim Paul/My Kolkata
Bringing back memories
By 2pm, our journey came to an end. We all stepped out of the train cheering. The Metro staff thanked us while we thanked them in return for this historic opportunity.
Our network signal was restored and we started getting messages from work, family and friends. Everyone who knew I was taking the ride was curious to know about my experience. “Thrilling!,” I texted.
