Metro Railway has initiated a crucial inspection of the much-anticipated Esplanade-Sealdah section of Kolkata’s East-West Metro, marking a significant step towards the commissioning of the final 2.6 km link, Times of Indiareported.

This assessment is a prerequisite for the forthcoming inspection by the Commission of Railway Safety (CRS), the autonomous body under the civil aviation ministry responsible for granting safety clearance for new metro lines across India.

The Rs 10,000 crore East-West Metro corridor, which will eventually span 16.6 km between Sector V and Howrah Maidan, currently operates in two separate segments—9.2 km between Sealdah and Sector V and 4.8 km between Esplanade and Howrah Maidan.

The completion of the Esplanade-Sealdah link is expected to unify the corridor, significantly enhancing connectivity across Kolkata. Metro Railway aims to launch this final stretch by Poila Baishakh (15 April).

"You could call this (Metro Railway's survey) the penultimate inspection ahead of the CRS visit for commissioning the last section," remarked an engineer closely involved with the project.

Officials are keen to invite CRS for inspection by the end of the month, which would bring the project one step closer to reality.

Over the coming weeks, engineers will conduct thorough examinations of the new section, scrutinising the Howrah-bound and Sector V-bound tracks, electrical systems, and overall infrastructure.