Kolkata metro gets new underwater route, to be inaugurated by PM Modi on March 6 | See pictures

• India's first under-river tunnel to be opened is all set to open as Prime Minister Narendra Modi flags off a metro train between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade in Kolkata on Wednesday

1/9View of the India's first underwater metro train, in Kolkata, Tuesday, March 5, 2024. (PTI Photo) (PTI)

2/9PM Modi will flags off a metro train between Howrah Maidan and Esplanade in Kolkata on Wednesday. (PTI Photo)  (PTI)

3/9This makes making it the country's first transportation tunnel under any mighty river Ganga. View of the India's first underwater metro train, in Kolkata, Tuesday, March 5, 2024. (PTI Photo)  (PTI)

4/9Murals designed at Esplanade metro station, in Kolkata, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate Kolkata Metro Railway's Howrah Maidan-Esplanade section on March 6. (PTI Photo/Swapan Mahapatra) (PTI)

5/9A view of the interior of the East West Metro's Esplanade station with colourful murals, ahead its inauguration in Kolkata, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024. The Esplanade station is India's second deepest Metro station with a depth of 28m. (PTI Photo/Swapan Mahapatra)  (PTI)

6/9A mural designed at Esplanade metro station, in Kolkata, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024. The Howrah metro station will also be the deepest in the country. (PTI Photo/Swapan Mahapatra) (PTI)

7/9Howrah and Kolkata are two centuries old historical cities of West Bengal and this tunnel will connect these two cities under the river Hooghly. (PTI Photo/Swapan Mahapatra) (PTI)

8/9The Indian Railways under which the Metro Railways functions, states that 4.8-km long stretch of East-West Metro from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade, built at a cost of ₹4,138 crore, will have the deepest metro station in India at Howrah. (PTI Photo/Swapan Mahapatra) (PTI)

9/9According to Metro Railway, this corridor was identified in the city's master plan in 1971. The experience of India's first metro in Kolkata and the success of the Delhi metro network provided enough technical support and showed the way to the planners to sanction it in July 2008. (PTI Photo/Swapan Mahapatra) (PTI)