By IANSÂ
Kolkata : East-West Metro, the much-touted second metro railway project to connect Kolkata's twin city Howrah in the west with IT hub Salt Lake in the east, was cleared by the West Bengal cabinet Thursday.
Officials said the work on the project would begin in December 2008 and is likely to be completed by 2014.
The Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) will contribute 45 percent of the project cost – approximately Rs.35 billion ($856.40 million) – and the state and central governments will bear the rest.
Of the total 13.7 km route under the metro expansion project now, about eight kilometres will be underground and the rest overground.
There would be 12 stations in the entire stretch between Church Road in Howrah and Salt Lake's Sector V-Rajarhat point in northeastern Kolkata.
At present, the metro runs on the city's north-south axis from Dum Dum to Tollygunge, a stretch of about 16.5 km.
JBIC recently submitted a feasibility report to the state government. Unlike the existing metro rail network, six stations of the new project will be elevated up to a height of 5.5 metres from the ground level. Six stations will be underground.
The project will involve boring tunnels beneath the Ganga at depths of 15 to 20 metres.
West Bengal Transport Minister Subhas Chakraborty had earlier said the project will be extended to Kadamtala in Howrah and New Town in Rajarhat.
The state will form the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation, which will repay the loan that will be taken from the central government. The state government's allocation will come from its capital expenditure outlay.
The trains will have four coaches instead of the eight in the existing metro project. The platforms will have screen doors in both the elevated and underground stations. While underground stations will have doors of full height, the ones on elevated stations will be half that height.
There will be an automatic system for collecting fare and the trains will run at an average speed of 80 km per hour.