Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday inaugurated India’s first metro line “under any mighty river” in Kolkata. This is a landmark project, showcasing the nation’s stride towards infrastructure development.

The metro railway services flagged off by the prime minister include operations from Kolkata Metro’s Kavi Subhash, Majerhat and the Esplanade stations; Kochi Metro, Agra Metro, Meerut-RRTS section and Pune Metro.

The underwater service is a part of the Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section of Kolkata Metro’s East-West corridor, which will cover a distance of 4.8 km under the Hooghly river.

The metro service will connect Howrah and Salt Lake – the West Bengal State capital’s twin cities. Three out of six stations will be underground. The metro train is expected to zoom through a 520-metre stretch under the Hooghly in just 45 seconds.

The prime minister took the first ride on the underwater metro with several school students.

The inauguration of the landmark project comes less than a year after Kolkata Metro in April 2023 has made history by running a train through the underwater tunnel as a part of trials, which was a first in India.