Metro to run till Garia from March

KOLKATA:Come March next year, and the extended Metro services will run its full coursefrom Tollygunge to Garia, at the current frequency of sixminutes.The Metro authorities had earlier announced that theservices would be truncated, only till Naktala. But they decided to run the fullcourse after a survey showed that running the truncated service would neitherbenefit commuters nor jack up revenue by attracting a substantial number ofpassengers.In the truncated service, the trains would have run onone track under a one-train-only' system, since a changeover from Up to Downlines is not possible mid-way at Naktala. But under the revised plan, trainswould travel on the Up line till Garia and return along the Down line after thechangeover.Commuters, however, will not be immediately able toaccess the New Garia terminal station. "The New Garia station will be ready byJune 2009. There will be an interface with the suburban Garia-Baghajatin railwayline. Many suburban passengers will use this interface to get to the heart ofthe city," said J K Mitra, Metro's chief operating manager.Mitrasaid running a train on a track and bringing it back along the same track wouldhave necessitated intervals ranging from 18 to 28 minutes on theTollygunge-Naktala stretch. This time is more than the total journey timebetween Tollygunge and New Garia. So, from March, trains would move up toBirji (earlier known as Pranab Nagar), and then to New Garia for thechangeover."The extension till New Garia will help draw 1,00,000passengers over and above the present passenger level on the Dum Dum-Tollygungeroute. So, a commensurate increase in revenue earnings is also expected," addedMitra.The Metro's extension project till Garia has already suffereda lot of delay. In the beginning, the deadline was early 2007. But litigationover land acquisition pushed the project way behind schedule. Now, nearly twotime-overruns has pushed up the cost. "The original allocation for the project,which started in 1999-2000, was Rs 907 crore. Till date, the expenditure hasbeen Rs 658.37 crore. The remaining cost shall mainly be on the procurement ofrakes," said Mitra.