Metro Railway tunnel boring completed from Kidderpore to Victoria Memorial in Kolkata

Kolkata, Jul 10 (PTI) The 1.6-km tunnel boring from Kidderpore to Victoria Memorial for the Kolkata Metro Railway's ‘Purple Line’ was on Friday completed a year after it was launched on July 10, 2025, an official said. Tunnel boring machine (TBM) 'Durga' made the "breakthrough" at Victoria metro station, marking the completion of one of the two tunnels being constructed from Khidderpore to Victoria station, he said. Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw congratulated the team on completing the tunneling work, terming it an "engineering excellence beneath the city”. "TBM Durga achieves breakthrough at purple line of Kolkata Metro," he wrote on X. Kolkata Metro General Manager Prem Sagar Gupta also lauded the commitment and teamwork of the project personnel who “ensured safe, methodical, professional and efficient tunnelling”, without disturbing the surface traffic movement. "Metro Railway infrastructure projects contribute to the nation's development and for a ‘Viksit Bharat’ with modern public transportation," said Gupta, who was present at Victoria Metro station when the work was completed. The ‘Purple Line’, which will connect Joka in the southwestern suburbs of Kolkata with Esplanade in the heart of the city, is at present functional till Majerhat from Joka. Two TBMs – ‘Durga’ and ‘Divya’ – were pressed into service for the construction of the twin tube tunnels from Khidderpore to Park Street, beyond which tunneling will be done by conventional cut and cover method, he said. The 15.1-km Joka-Esplanade metro line will be fully constructed within three years, the official said. PTI AMR RBT