Giving a major relief to commuters, the West Bengal State Department will be adding 100 air-conditioned (AC) buses onto the roads of Kolkata. The buses will start operating in the state capital this summer, giving relief to passengers amidst the rising mercury. The buses have been added following high-demand routes – Sealdah, Howrah Station, Ultadanga, Sector Five, Ruby, Jadavpur and Dharmatala.
Snehashish Chakraborty, West Bengal’s Transport Minister, confirmed the development in his latest presser. “100 more AC buses will be put on the roads in phases between the last week of this month and May on those routes which have high demand during office hours during summer. This is to provide comfort to the daily commuters,” Chakraborty said.
Reports suggest that the state transport department has devised a plan to run AC buses on the road in a phased manner by the last week of April.
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Around 60 per cent of AC buses are still in the bus depot. It remains to be seen whether the transport department will be successful in its quest to run 100 new AC buses as many of the AC buses are under maintenance at different depots.
Meanwhile, the people of Kolkata will benefit from the city’s new metro as well.
Recently, Kolkata Metro had scripted history when it operated a rake through a tunnel under the Hooghly River. This trial run marked India’s first-ever under-river train travel.
With the new stretch starting operations, Howrah Maidan, located 33 metres below the surface, will become the deepest Metro station in the country.
The East-West corridor of Kolkata Metro is partially operational between Sealdah and Sector V stations. Now, the entire stretch connecting Howrah Maidan and Sector V will be opened to the public.
The project had to face multiple delays owing to accidents during construction in the underground stretch on the route. The first hurdle in the construction came when a tunnel boring machine (TBM) hit an aquifer leading to severe ground subsidence leading to the collapse of buildings at Bowbazar. However, the operational difficulties were overcome to complete the construction.
By operating a train under the Hooghly River Kolkata has now joined the likes of cities that include Paris, London, New York, Shanghai and Cairo.
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