Before budget, focus on remaining Purple, Orange and Yellow Line work

Kolkata: Having added 13 km metro sections last year, including the East-West Metro's (Green Line) full run and the maiden airport connectivity, engineers are eyeing hefty allocations this Rail Budget for the Purple, Orange and Yellow lines on Sunday. However, land issues may come in the way, they conceded.For city commuters, what matters most is the reopening of the Blue Line's Kavi Subhash Metro station, shut since July 28, 2025 because of cracks in piers supporting its platforms. The 41-year-old corridor is India's oldest metro and Kolkata's transport lifeline. Metro undertook major upgrade for the Blue Line, which runs into glitches every other day. The carrier also intends to start rebuilding Kavi Subhash, the Blue Line's southern terminal, in April.
The city's metro currently covers 72 km, with another 57 km of sanctioned projects, of which 29 km of work is in progress. In 2025, a record 13 km was added to the metro network. Metro expects 19 km to be added to the system by linking the Orange Line's Beleghata station at Metropolitan on EM Bypass with the airport. By 2029, 10 more kilometres could be added by connecting Purple Line's Majerhat with Esplanade and by linking the Yellow Line's Bimanbandar (airport) station with Michael Nagar. The Yellow Line recently got a boost as work on the underground Birati station began. The 18-km corridor was also revised, and the entire stretch up to Barasat is being planned underground. Last year, the Purple Line was allocated around Rs 1,400 crore, the Orange Line around Rs 1,500 crore, and the Yellow Line Rs 405 crore. A substantial rise is expected in all these corridors. "But we are not sure how much funds will eventually come the city's way because of the major roadblock at Chingrighata, where 366 m of the Orange Line's viaduct construction is stuck," an engineer said. The Orange Line now runs 9 km from New Garia to Metropolitan and will eventually span 32 km to the airport. The Purple Line is in trouble, too. Around 6 km of the 14 km Joka-Esplanade corridor, from Majerhat to Esplanade, became slow-paced because of the unresolved shifting of the BC Roy Market at Esplanade, where 528 unauthorised shops blocked construction of the terminal Esplanade station. Once the Purple Line's Esplanade station is built, Kolkata will get its long-awaited metro hub — the interface of the Blue (North-South), Green and Purple lines. In Dec 2025, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in Parliament that 20 km of metro lines around Kolkata are held up because of land issues and pending NOCs with the state govt. He said the Purple Line's 6.2 km Majerhat-Esplanade section is incomplete because of the unresolved shifting of the BC Roy Market near Esplanade. "The proposal for NOC of shifting of these shops was submitted to the state in Feb 2022. Shops for temporary shifting were also constructed by the Railway. Regular follow-up with state PWD is also being done. The issue is pending for more than 3.5 years," Vaishnaw said.