In the quest of making India a well-equipped, citizen-oriented country the Indian Government had the master plan of upgrading its cities from being just city to metropolitan city. New Delhi, our national capital was not the first one to receive this title, you will be taken aback that Kolkata the capital of West Bengal has the oldest metro system in our country. Kolkata is a city of culture and colors; anyone who visits Kolkata for once is completely smitten by the richness of culture in Kolkata.
This contributed in making Kolkata one of the most attracted travel destinations in India. Therefore, it was chosen to be one of the first four metropolitan cities in India.
Let us go through some of the interesting facts about the Kolkata Metro that you never knew before.
- Bollywood movies seem to love the Kolkata metro and therefore, it has featured the Kolkata metro not once but several times in various movies. Next time you watch a cameo of a rather old school looking underground metro, know that it is the Kolkata Metro rail.
- The majority of Kolkata metro stations is underground and resembles that of the New York City.
- Kolkata was the first city to have blessed with the metro and it acquired the title of first metropolitan city in India. This indeed proves the quote true which says- ‘What Kolkata thinks today, India thinks tomorrow’.
- Metro in Kolkata is the fastest transportation service that citizens of Kolkata have. It can take you from South extreme to the Northern extreme under thirty minutes of the ride.
- More than ten metro stations in Kolkata are named after Bengali celebrities.
- A maximum number of suicides on any given metro station in India have happened in the Rabindra Sarobar Metro station.
- The entire underground metro stations are equipped with air-cooled ventilators which are far better than an air-conditioned station.
- The Kolkata metro is the cheapest metro service in the world which starts at Rs. 5 for as much as five kilometers of distance.
- Due to the fact that it is cheap, and fastest mode of transportation, the Kolkata metro is one of the most crowded metro rail systems of the world which carries between 8 to 10 lakh people every day.
- The foundation stone of Kolkata metro was laid by the former PM Indira Gandhi in 1972 and the construction began in 1973.
- It took almost 11 years to complete the first phase of Kolkata metro.
- The first official metro in India was run in 1984 in Kolkata.