Wiring The World Below

Spread across 5 lakh sq-ft, the multi-level Howrah Metro station is 30m below ground level.

- Jayashree Mendes

The Howrah Station witnesses foot-falls of over 10.5 lakh per day. You can imagine the bustle! More than 730 trains ply through two railway yards when the area also has a bus terminus and ferry services across the Hooghly river.

With the modern Metro Rail coming up in Kolkata, Howrah will also get a Metro station, which will be one of the deepest Metro stations in the country. At 30m below surface level, once ready, the multi-level Howrah Metro station will cover an area of over 5 lakh sq-ft. Afcons Infrastructure is constructing the diaphragm wall for the station, which at 1.5m, is the thickest to have ever been built in India. The depth of the D-wall is 46m, which is the deepest so far. The depth of excavation for the station is 33m. The station has been designed in a way that it can be connected to the rail yards through a subway and also a foot-over bridge.