With a focus on enhancing avenues for ensuring ease of urban mobility, the Prime Minister inaugurated today Kolkata Metro's Howrah Maidan - Esplanade Metro section, Kavi Subhash - Hemanta Mukhopadhyay Metro section, Taratala - Majerhat Metro section (part of Joka- Esplanade line); Pune Metro from Ruby Hall Clinic to Ramwadi stretch; Kochi Metro Rail Phase I Extension project (Phase IB) from SN Junction Metro station to Tripunithura Metro station; Agra Metro's stretch from Taj East Gate to Mankameshwar; and Duhai-Modinagar (North) section of Delhi-Meerut RRTS Corridor. He flagged off train services on these sections. The Prime Minister also laid the foundation stone for extending Pune Metro Rail project Phase 1 between Pimpri Chinchwad Metro-Nigdi.

The Prime Minister took an overview of all metro projects and took a metro ride on the Esplanade - Howrah Maidan metro route, India's first Underwater Metro in Kolkata. He also interacted with shramiks and school children on his metro journey.

With Prime Minister inaugurating the projects from Kolkata through video conference, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Housing & Urban Affairs and Petroleum & Natural Gas, along with Shri V.K. Singh, Minister of State for Road Transport & Highways and Civil Aviation, attended the inauguration of the 17km long section of the Delhi-Meerut RRTS corridor from Duhai to Modi Nagar North at Muradnagar, Uttar Pradesh.

 

 

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that India's infrastructure, especially the urban transport sector, was ignored by governments before 2014. Cities were not seen as an opportunity but as a challenge, he said. He further said that the government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has completely changed the situation. In the last few years, India has seen momentum in the development of infrastructure. Shri Puri said, “From just 248 km of operational metro lines in 2014, we have expanded India's modern metro systems to 939 km after today's inauguration. More than three-quarters of India's current metro rail network has been operated in less than ten years. The proof of our success is that metro daily ridership has crossed 1 crore. In line with the Prime Minister's 'Gati Shakti vision', RRTS is being integrated with all public transport systems.”

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RKJ/M

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