A file picture of Metro trial run in Salt Lake.

KOLKATA: If all goes according to plan, the first phase of East-West Metro spanning 5km between Sector V and Salt Lake Stadium may be inaugurated on October 24; the same day the country’s first Metro and Kolkata’s lifeline — the north-south route — was flagged off in 1984.

The Railway Board is eager to hold the inauguration on October 24, a red-letter day in the history of the country’s rapid transit system. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also scheduled to visit Kolkata on the day and chief minister Mamata Banerjee is expected to remain in the city, too, officials said.

“Preparations are underway in full swing to start commercial services between Sector V and Salt Lake Stadium from 24 October,” a source told TOI on Friday.

Service trials or the final test runs for Kolkata’s Line 2 will be conducted for three days, beginning Tuesday, October 15. This exercise is crucial to not only give the team the confidence to go ahead with the commissioning of this line, it will also help determine the frequency of the service and other nitty-gritty. Should there be a glitch during the trials, the inauguration may be pushed back to the first or second week of November. “The service runs will be done to ensure there is no premature failure when the trains start plying. If the section is not flagged off before November 30, another inspection by the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) will be required before the next launch date,” an official explained.

The first phase of East West Metro line was originally slated to become operational by 2012 but problems with land acquisition, slum relocation and route alignment delayed the project to first 2015, then 2018 and finally 2019. The CRS giving on August 6 paved the way for commissioning of the first phase. It though issued a few riders to Metro Railway Kolkata that will operate the trains: updating Train Control and Management System (TCMS) software and replacement of defective bearings on piers that hold the viaduct on which the rail tracks have been laid. The bearings were fitted in 2012 and have worn out due to lack of maintenance. Around 70 bearings were replaced in the last one-and-a-half month and the compliance report was sent to CRS.

Even after the elevated section becomes operational, uncertainty will persist over the commissioning of the remaining underground stretch following a mishap during the last leg of tunnel boring in August-end. With subsidence triggered by tunneling work affecting an entire neibhbourhood in Bowbazar, there is no clarity on when boring of the final 1 km stretch of tunnel will resume. It is only after the link is established that trains will be albe to ply under the Hooghly river .

