One of the two East-West Metro rakes brought from Mahakaran to Howrah Maidan station on Wednesday made a trial run between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade. The test run will start soon.
The journey included a 520-m stretch under the Hooghly, which was covered in around 45 seconds, said a Metro official.
The rakes had earlier been brought to Mahakaran from the depot in Salt Lake, said officials.
“We will conduct test runs between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade stations for the next five to seven months. The signalling system, traction and other hardware and software will be checked,” said P. Uday Kumar Reddy, general manager of Metro Railway who was on the first train to Howrah Maidan.
The Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation, the implementing agency of East-West Metro, is planning to start the commercial run on a truncated stretch between Howrah Maidan and Sealdah by December. Once fully operational, the East-West corridor will link Howrah Maidan and Sector V. The Sealdah-Sector V stretch is already operational.