Now, a single-train ride will take you to airport from Shahid Khudiram stn

Kolkata: Once full-fledged commercial operation begins on the Yellow Line, commuters who take the metro on the Blue Line will be able to travel straight to the airport without having to switch trains at Noapara. Metro Railway is planning to extend every third service on the Blue Line beyond Noapara to the airport on the Yellow Line, thereby enabling a passenger who boards the train at the airport to travel 35km seamlessly to Kavi Subhash without changing the train. With services to Kavi Subhash currently suspended, trains will operate between Jai Hind station at the airport and Shahid Khudiram for now.Sources in Metro Railway said planning was underway to operate one train to Dakshineswar, the next train to Noapara and the following train to the Airport once the Yellow Line becomes operational. While the original plan was to start commercial services from Monday after PM inaugurates the stretch on Friday, a host of observations made by the Commissioner of Railway Safety may force Metro Railway to push back the commercial operations to a later date. The Blue and Yellow lines are the only ones where seamless operations are possible at present. Though the Orange Line will also terminate at the airport, it is unlikely to allow a seamless journey on the onward Yellow track to Barasat via New Barrackpore. In the existing scheme of things, Blue Line commuters have to switch trains at Esplanade to board the Green and at Kavi Subhash to board the Orange Line. Noapara will now host two different corridors: the existing 32km Blue Line and the 7km Noapara-Barasat or Yellow Line. The latter will eventually span 22 km to Barasat."Every rake has two motormen, so the train can be driven in either direction. When the train reaches Noapara, the doors will open for Noapara-bound commuters to step out. As the doors shut, the rake, with only airport-bound passengers on board, will cross over to the other line," a source said."The train from the airport will switch tracks here and continue along the North-South line, stopping at the various stations en route. It will terminate at the Shahid Khudiram and start its return journey afresh," he said."Airport-bound passengers will travel on the same train they boarded from any of the North-South (Blue Line) stations with their single tokens for travelling across two lines. They will wait inside the train while it switches from the Blue Line to the Yellow Line, using the crossover at Noapara," an official said.The initial timetable was based on a 15-minute frequency for airport-bound trains via Noapara. "We are reworking the timings so that trains to and from the airport are available every 12 minutes," the source said.It should take around 30 minutes to travel from airport to Esplanade via Noapara. From Esplanade, it will take another half hour to travel to Shahid Khudiram station.