Kolkata Metro - History

History

After independence, the transport problem of Kolkata drew the attention of the city planners, the State Government and also the Government of India. Efforts to solve the problem by augmenting the existing fleet of public transport vehicles barely touched the fringe of the problem as the roads account for only 4.2% of the surface area in Calcutta, compared to 25% in Delhi and even 30% in other cities.

With a view to finding an alternative solution, the Metropolitan Transport Project (Rlys) (i.e., Railways) was set up in 1973, which recommended a Mass Rapid Transit System. The MTP (Rlys) prepared a master plan in 1971 envisaging construction of five rapid-transit lines for the city of Kolkata, totalling a route length of 97.5 km. Of these, the highest priority was given to the busy North-South axis between Dum Dum and Kavi Subhash (New Garia) over a length of 25 km, and the work on this project was sanctioned on June 1, 1972. The foundation stone of the project was laid by Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, on December 29, 1972.

At first, 5 lines were planned, but finally only 3 were selected for construction. Those were -

• Dum Dum - Mahanayak Uttam Kumar (Later extended to Kavi Subhash)
• Bidhannagar (Salt Lake Sector V) - Ramrajatala (Truncated till Howrah Maidan)
• Dakshineshwar - Thakurpukur (Route rechanged to Joka - BBD Bag)

Of these, only Line 1 (Dum Dum to Kavi Subhash) has been constructed.

Since the commencement of construction, the project had to contend with several hurdles, and actual construction of Line 1 started only in 1978. The first section opened between Esplanade & Bhowanipore (Now called Netaji Bhawan) by Sanjay Seal and Tapan Kumar Nath. There were no connections of this stretch with the two depots at Dum Dum & Tollygunge(now called Mahanayak Uttam Kumar), and the metro operated on only a single line. Two years later, line 1 extended up to Tollygunge at the southern end and made into a double line. Services from Dum Dum to Tollygunge started finally in 1995, and full services from Dum Dum to New Garia commenced on October 7, 2010.