The East-West Metro Line 2 will soon become a reality, enhancing real estate prospects for several locations along this stretch. The East-West Metro should be a game changer for Kolkata real estate, particularly in areas like Salt Lake, Rajarhat New Town and other adjoining areas.
East-West Metro Line 2 gets approval
Approval has been obtained for Line 2 of the East-West Metro network. Here are some of the key developments in this regard:
- The Railway Board has already given its nod to the East-West Metro route between the Salt Lake Stadium and Sector V which spans 5.5 kilometres.
- The rolling stock has been sanctioned approval for commercially operating at 80 kilometres per hour.
- KMRC (Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation) personnel have reportedly stated that they have already got the sanction from the Railway Board.
- The Board has provided the clearance subject to all RDSO (Research Design and Standards Organization) guidelines and conditions being adhered to.
- The final safety clearance will be provided after these are met along with taking inputs from the railway safety commissioner and interim speed certification.
- KMRC has already lined up 9 rakes from BEML, the Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) based in Bangalore for the first commissioning phase.
- The East-West Metro was expected to launch sometime by the end of April 2019 or early in May 2019.
- There were some glitches since the global firm that was given the contract for offering software integration with the network for signalling missed the deadline of 31st March, 2019 for ensuring smooth operations of the same.
- The firm held the responsibility for ensuring the CBTC or communication based train control for signalling. This makes use of telecommunications for automatically running the trains on the East-West metro route similar to the trains in cities like Shanghai and Paris.
- There are safety tests going on for the same at the moment and this will reportedly lower waiting periods for all passengers to approximately 90 seconds.
- Stringent commissioning and testing procedures will be undertaken prior to the route becoming fully operational for passengers.
- The safety certification was obtained from the RDSO which is the nodal agency appointed by the Union Railways Ministry for holding oscillation trials.
- This certification was garnered on the 21st of January, 2019, as per reports.
- Assent was given by the Railway Board which was the vital next step in the entire procedure. The CRS is the body that will provide final certification for the East-West Metro Line 2.
- The metro route has to obtain the ISA (Independent Safety Assessment) report from the France based certifier that has been authorized as a third party body for double checking of required safety levels for the entire system of trains based on global standards.
- The team from France came to Kolkata in the first week of the month of March this year and found out a few problems in the course of the trial runs. Ever since, the global entity has been holding several trial runs while addressing shortcomings based on software that were highlighted by the experts.
- They have also referred to other peers in France and the United States for providing the best possible solutions to the teams stationed here.
- The company has been contracted for integration of software between signalling systems, trains, platform screen doors and tracks.
- There are various experts who have been appointed for taking care of various software components and they are located across the United States, Italy and France.
- CRS will require the concurrence from all experts on overall safety levels prior to trials commencing.
- The preliminary report has been provided by the certifier although the final certificate will only be issued once the minor issues are fixed by the global firm which have already been highlighted in its report.
What it means for Kolkata real estate
The East-West Metro will naturally provide a major leg-up to the Kolkata realty market, particularly in the Salt Lake and Rajarhat New Town markets. The Rajarhat New Town market is witnessing a major boom in real estate over the last few years and several leading developers have come up with major projects here. Some of the top projects to have come up here in recent times include Mani Artista and Tata Avenida among many others.
Rajarhat New Town is a properly planned residential township that has benefited from several infrastructural developments. There is good connectivity through major roads and the advent of metro connectivity will ease out commutes even further. Several options are available here across diverse price points which makes the area more attractive for potential homebuyers. Civic and social infrastructure have developed rapidly across the entire stretch along with recreational facilities that have transformed it into a highly coveted residential zone of the city.
