KMRL takes up ₹4,959-cr tunneling to link airport

The much delayed 3.7 km tunneling project between Kolkata airport and New Barrackpore under Jessore Road is set to start shortly as the Kolkata Metro Rail has cleared the project. This is the first stage of the link between Kolkata Airport and Barasat in the Metro's north-south corridor. Work is already underway to connect Noapara to the airport where the country's largest underground yard is being constructed. The link from the airport to New Barrackpore will run below the land owned by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) housing several vital installations such as fuel tanks, buildings and utilities like cables that will have to be shifted before the tunneling work starts. CPRO, Metro Railway, Indrani Banerjee said this is a very important development as the link to Barasat had remained a non-starter for the last eight years. One of the major hurdles was the stretch till New Barrackpore that was to be an elevated one, as per original plans. A decision was taken to convert it into an underground stretch for which an additional amount of ₹1,615 crore was paid to the Railway Board by the Metro. This is in addition to the ₹3,344.42 crore already sanctioned for the Noapara-Barasat stretch.