Metro plans to begin work to rebuild Kavi Subhas stn in April

Kolkata: Metro Railway is planning to start full-fledged work to rebuild the Blue Line's Kavi Subhash station from around April, senior officials said. The rake-reversal point at the new southern terminus station, Shahid Khudiram, will start around the same time. A weekend block will be needed to complete this job.Metro Railway general manager Subhransu Sekhar Mishra had told reporters on Oct 24 last year that the restoration work at Kavi Subhash station at New Garia will begin "as soon as possible, once the Chhath Puja celebrations are over." Earlier, it had been announced that the restoration work will start soon after Diwali 2025. Three months later, highly placed sources in Metro Railway told TOI: "Installation of the crossover, or rake-reversal point, at Shahid Khudiram is a bit complex. We aim to do it in three months' time. The New Garia station restoration should also start in April." The design of the old station was said to have been flawed, and the authorities want to be extra careful this time around, sources said. Sources said the design for the new station was finalised and the contract awarded. "But we still need to go through certain aspects to ensure foolproof design and construction," an official said. The Blue Line, or the North-South corridor, has been going through tremendous stress after the terminal New Garia (Kavi Subhash) station was indefinitely shut down because cracks were spotted on the pillars supporting the platforms. The station has since been undergoing slow razing. Restoration will start once the demolition work is completed. Until then, the penultimate station, Shahid Khudiram, will continue to serve as the southern-end station. But this station lacks a crossover, a facility mandatory for any terminal station. Thus, rakes are still being driven to the dysfunctional Kavi Subhash station for reversing, after riders get off at Shahid Khudiram. The rake reversal process has been taking 8-10 minutes extra since the metro authorities have to adhere to the stipulations by the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS). According to the CRS mandate, no passenger-laden train can leave Shahid Khudiram station before the preceding one has switched tracks to begin its Dakshineswar-bound journey, as a guard against the sloping elevated tracks between Shahid Khudiram and Kavi Subhash stations. The CRS recently relaxed the norm temporarily, and trains have been able to turn around irrespective of the distance between two trains. The rationale was that only empty trains are driven to the former terminus for reversal, and passengers are under no risk, for now. The new system, in place since Jan 19, has considerably improved Blue Line frequency.