Netaji metro station explained

Netaji
Native Name:নেতাজি
Native Name Lang:be
Style:Kolkata Metro
Symbol:m
Symbol Location:kolkata
Address:Chandi Ghosh Rd, Kudghat, Tollygunge, Kolkata, West Bengal 700041
Structure:Elevated, Double track
Platform:Side platform
Platform-1 → Dakshineshwar
Platform-2 → Kavi Subhash
Levels:2
Tracks:2
Opened:[1]
Accessible:Yes
Code:KNTJ
Owned:Metro Railway, Kolkata
Operator:Kolkata Metro
Former:Kudghat
Services Collapsible:yes
Map State:collapsed
Mapframe:yes
Mapframe-Marker:rail
Mapframe-Zoom:14

Netaji is an elevated metro station on the North-South corridor of the Blue Line of Kolkata Metro in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.[2] [3] This station is situated opposite to the Kudghat bus stand at Kudghat, in Tollygunge.

History

Early attempts

In the September 1919 session of the Imperial Legislative Council at Shimla, a committee was set up by W. E. Crum that recommended a metro line for Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). This line was supposed to connect Bagmari in the east to Benaras Road, Salkia, in Howrah in the west via a tunnel beneath Hooghly River. The estimated construction costs were £3,526,154, about based on current exchange rates, and the proposed deadline was 1925–1926. The proposed line was 10.4km (06.5miles) long, about 4km (02miles) shorter than the current East-West Corridor, which would connect East Bengal Railway in Bagmari and East Indian Railway in Benaras Road. The tickets were priced at 3 annas (Rs. 0.1875) for the full trip. Crum also mentioned a north–south corridor back then. An east–west metro railway connection, named the "East–West Tube Railway", was proposed for Kolkata in 1921 by Harley Dalrymple-Hay. All the reports can be found in his 1921 book Calcutta Tube Railways. However, in 1923, the proposal was not undertaken due to a lack of funds.[4] [5] [6]

Planning

The then Chief Minister of West Bengal, Bidhan Chandra Roy, reconceived the idea of an underground railway for Kolkata in the early 1949–1950. A survey was done by a team of French experts, but nothing concrete came of this. Efforts to solve problem traffic by augmenting the existing fleet of public transport vehicles hardly helped, since roads accounted for only 4.2 percent of the surface area in Kolkata, compared with 25 percent in Delhi and 30 percent in other cities. To find alternative solutions, the Metropolitan Transport Project (MTP) was set up in 1969. The MTP, with the help of Soviet specialists, Lenmetroproekt and East German engineers, prepared a master plan to provide five rapid-transit (metro) lines for the city of Kolkata, totaling a length of 97.5km (60.6miles), in 1971.[7] However, only three were selected for construction. These were:[8] [9]

  1. Dum DumTollygunge (Line 1. Presently operates from Dakshineswar to New Garia)
  2. BidhannagarRamrajatala (Line 2. Presently truncated till Howrah Maidan)
  3. DakshineswarThakurpukur (Divided into Line 1; Noapara to Dakshineswar and Line 3; Joka to Esplanade)

The highest priority was given to the busy north–south corridor between Dum Dum and Tollygunge over a length of 16.45km (10.22miles); work on this project was approved on 1 June 1972. A tentative deadline was fixed to complete all the corridors by 1991.[10]

Construction

Since it was India's first metro and was constructed as a completely indigenous process, a traditional cut-and-cover method and driven shield tunneling was chosen and the Kolkata Metro was more of a trial-and-error affair, in contrast to the Delhi Metro, which saw the involvement of multiple international consultants. As a result, it took nearly 23 years to completely construct the 17km (11miles) underground railway.[11]

The foundation stone of the project was laid by Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India, on 29 December 1972, and construction work started in 1973–74. Initially, cut and cover along with slurry wall construction to handle soft ground, was recommended by the Soviet Union Consultants. Later, in 1977, it was decided to adopt both shield tunneling and cut and cover methods for construction under populated areas, sewer lines, water mains, electrical cables, telephone cables, tram lines, canals etc. The technology was provided by M/s NIKEX Hungarian Co., Budapest.[12] In the early days, the project was led by the Union Railway Minister from West Bengal, A. B. A. Ghani Khan Choudhury, often against the prevailing socio-political stance of his contemporaries in the West Bengal government. From the start of construction, the project had to contend with several problems including insufficient funds (until 1977–1978), a shifting of underground utilities, court injunctions, and an irregular supply of vital materials. In 1977, an injunction for the allocation of new funding was passed by the newly elected Jyoti Basu government.[13]

Despite all the hurdles, services began on 24 October 1984, with the commissioning of a partial commercial service covering a distance of 3.4km (02.1miles) with five stations served between Esplanade and Bhowanipur (currently Netaji Bhavan). The first metro was driven by Tapan Kumar Nath and Sanjoy Kumar Sil.[14] The service was quickly followed by commuter services on another 2.15km (01.34miles) stretch in the north between Dum Dum and Belgachhia on 12 November 1984. The commuter service was extended to Tollygunge on 29 April 1986, covering a further distance of 4.24km (02.63miles), making the service available over a distance of 9.79km (06.08miles) and covering 11 stations. However, the services on the north section were suspended starting 26 October 1992, as this small, isolated section was little used.[15] The Line 1 was almost entirely built by cut and cover method, while a small 1.09 km stretch between Belgachia and Shyambazar was built using shield tunneling with compressed air and air locks, since the alignment crossed a railway yard (now Kolkata railway station) and Circular Canal.[16] [17]

After more than eight years, the 1.62km (01.01miles) BelgachhiaShyambazaar section, along with the Dum Dum–Belgachhia stretch, was opened on 13 August 1994. Another 0.71km (00.44miles) stretch from Esplanade to Chandni Chowk was commissioned shortly afterwards, on 2 October 1994. The Shyambazaar-ShobhabazarGirish Park (1.93disp=sqbrNaNdisp=sqbr) and Chandni ChowkCentral (0.6disp=sqbrNaNdisp=sqbr) sections were opened on 19 February 1995. Services on the entire stretch of the Metro were introduced from 27 September 1995 by bridging the 1.8km (01.1miles) gap with Mahatma Gandhi Road metro station in the middle.[18]

In 1999–2000, the extension of Line 1 along an elevated corridor from Tollygunge to New Garia, with six stations, was sanctioned at a cost of .[19] The section was constructed and opened in two phases, Mahanayak Uttam Kumar to Kavi Nazrul in 2009 and Kavi Nazrul to Kavi Subhash in 2010. The latest extension opened was the 2.59km (01.61miles) stretch from Dum Dum to Noapara on 10 July 2013.[20]

In February 2021 this stretch was further expanded till Dakshineswar from Noapara (4.1 km) and was inaugurated on 22 February and opened for commercial use from 23 February for general public.

Station layout

GStreet LevelExit/Entrance
valign=topL1valign=topMezzaninevalign=topFare control, station agent, Metro Card vending machines, crossover
L2Side platform Doors will open on the left
Platform 2
Southbound
Towards → Kavi Subhash next station is Masterda Surya Sen
Platform 1
Northbound
Towards ← Dakshineshwar next station is Mahanayak Uttam Kumar
Side platform Doors will open on the left
L2

Connections

Bus

Kudghat Bus stand is serving near Netaji metro station. Bus route number 218, S17A, S2, V1, AC47, AC17B, SBSTC kudghat to tarapith, SBSTC kudghat to Jhargram, SBSTC kudghat to Digha, etc. are serving near the station

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Kolkata metro expands . 10 September 2009 . Railway Gazette . 28 July 2011 . 14 March 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120314055953/http://www.railwaygazette.com/nc/news/single-view/view/kolkata-metro-expands.html . dead .
  2. Web site: Welcome to Metro Railway, Kolkata . 13 May 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070820234733/http://www.kolmetro.com/ . 20 August 2007 . dead .
  3. Web site: UrbanRail.Net > Asia > India > West Bengal > Kolkata (Calcutta) Metro . 2011-06-29 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110629132602/http://urbanrail.net/as/kolk/kolkata.htm . 29 June 2011 . dmy-all .
  4. Web site: Ganguly. Deepankar. 23 August 2014. Metro missed the train to Piccadilly. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200822120820/https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/metro-missed-the-train-to-piccadilly/cid/1286509. 22 August 2020. 10 May 2020. The Telegraph. en.
  5. Web site: Jayanta Gupta. 5 Feb 2020. Kolkata's Tube Railway plan nipped in bud a century ago. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200208230956/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/citys-tube-rly-plan-nipped-in-bud-a-century-ago/articleshow/73944018.cms. 8 February 2020. 11 February 2020. The Times of India. en.
  6. Web site: Das. Madhuparna. 2020-03-05. 100 years in the making, why Kolkata's east-west corridor is world's slowest metro project. 2020-08-08. ThePrint. en-US. 30 March 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200330122551/https://theprint.in/india/100-years-in-the-making-why-kolkatas-east-west-corridor-is-worlds-slowest-metro-project/369971/. live.
  7. Web site: Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Ltd . Kmrc.in . 27 January 2016 . 2 June 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170602200841/http://www.kmrc.in/overview.php . live .
  8. Web site: Metro Railway - Kolkata, Route Map. 9 December 2004. https://web.archive.org/web/20041209125755/http://www.kolmetro.com/metroRoute.html. 16 May 2020. 9 December 2004.
  9. Web site: Brief History of Construction of Metro Railway Kolkata. 15 January 2020. mtp.indianrailways.gov.in. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20190217162116/http://mtp.indianrailways.gov.in/view_section.jsp?lang=0&id=0,1,304,375,502. 17 February 2019. 20 May 2020.
  10. News: Mukherjee. Devjyot Ghoshal & Sharmistha. 3 November 2009. Delhi Metro speeds past Kolkata's. Business Standard India. 15 May 2020. 30 December 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20141230195542/http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/delhi-metro-speeds-past-kolkata-s-109110300031_1.html. live.
  11. Web site: 10 September 2007. Metro Railway, Kolkata. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20070910194011/http://www.kolmetro.com/features/construc.html. 10 September 2007. 30 May 2020. kolmetro.com.
  12. Ghosal. Mainak. Challenges faced(then & now)during Kolkata Metro Construction - A Study. Structural Engineering Digest. January 2018 . en. 15 July 2020. 22 August 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200822120754/https://www.academia.edu/37779455/Challenges_faced_then_and_now_during_Kolkata_Metro_Construction_A_Study. live.
  13. Hall . Andrew . 2006 . Reinventing Calcutta . Asian Affairs . 37 . 3 . 353–360 . 10.1080/03068370600906515 . 218620885 .
  14. Web site: Chakraborty. Ajanta. 13 Feb 2020. West Bengal: Three drivers on roster to steer the first train. 2021-09-22. The Times of India. en.
  15. Web site: 13 March 2020. Metro Railway, Kolkata, the confluence of culture, technology and eco-friendliness. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20190705075812/https://mtp.indianrailways.gov.in/view_section.jsp?fontColor=black&backgroundColor=LIGHTSTEELBLUE&lang=0&id=0,1. 5 July 2019. 20 May 2020. mtp.indianrailways.gov.in.
  16. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Kolkata_Old_Map.jpg Kolkata Old Map.jpg
  17. Book: Saha. Gouranga Prasad. Calcutta Metro - Construction by 'Cut and Cover' and 'Shield Tunneling' Methods. Chaudhary. P.R.. 1995. 20 May 2020. 22 August 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200822120804/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309203034_Calcutta_Metro_-_Construction_by_Cut_and_Cover_and_Shield_Tunneling_Methods. live.
  18. Web site: Kolkata Metro on a Reform Roadmap. 4 December 2019. mtp.indianrailways.gov.in. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20130819175710/http://www.mtp.indianrailways.gov.in/view_section.jsp?lang=0&id=0,1,283. 19 August 2013. 18 July 2013.
  19. Web site: Metro Railway, Kolkata. 9 December 2004. https://web.archive.org/web/20041209134604/http://www.kolmetro.com/features/expansion.html. 10 May 2020. 9 December 2004.
  20. Web site: Chakraborty. Ajanta. 25 December 2012. From April, fly to Naoapara from Garia in 54 mins flat. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20200822120753/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/From-April-fly-to-Naoapara-from-Garia-in-54-mins-flat/articleshow/17755839.cms. 22 August 2020. 20 May 2020. The Times of India. en.