Kolkata Metro

Operational Operator: Metro Railway Kolkata / KMRC Official site ↗

Kolkata Metro holds a unique place in Indian transit history: the country’s first metro, with its original north–south Blue Line opening in 1984, decades before any other city. Today it is operated jointly by Metro Railway Kolkata (a unit of Indian Railways) and the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC), which delivered the newer East–West corridor.

The East–West Green Line is the network’s landmark modern project. Its crossing of the Hooghly River – India’s first underwater transit tunnel – connects Howrah, one of the country’s busiest railway stations, to Salt Lake’s IT district, and its completion reshaped commuting across the two banks of the river.

Why it matters

Kolkata compresses the whole arc of Indian metro engineering into one city: a 1980s broad-gauge pioneer line running alongside a 21st-century CBTC standard-gauge corridor that tunnels under a river. The East–West project’s decade-long struggle with tunnelling accidents, subsidence in the congested Bowbazar neighbourhood and repeated cost revisions makes it one of the most instructive case studies in India of the risks of underground construction in dense heritage areas.

Key facts (verify before publish)

  • Operators: Metro Railway Kolkata (Line 1) + KMRC (East–West Line)
  • First opened: 1984 (Line 1 – India’s first metro)
  • Gauge: broad gauge (Line 1), standard gauge (Line 2)
  • Signalling: legacy on Line 1; CBTC on Line 2
  • Ridership: confirm latest (TMRG lists 6.5 lakh/day, July 2023)

Explore more

Official source: mtp.indianrailways.gov.in

Latest ridership: 6.5 lakh/day (2023 - verify)

Route map coming soon.

No active contract data yet.