The construction of Victoria station of the upcoming Joka-Esplanade Metro corridor has got underway.
The barricading of a slice of the Maidan for the construction of the underground station began in September last year.
“The construction of the underground Victoria station has been taken up. This station will be 325m long and its platform level will be at the depth of 14.7 metre from the surface,” the carrier said on Saturday.
The 16km Joka-Esplanade project (purple line), now functional between Joka and Majerhat, is being executed by the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL).
The corridor goes underground from Mominpore. The four underground stations are Kidderpore, Victoria, Park Street, and Esplanade.
For Victoria station, the diaphragm walls will be constructed first and then the
station slabs will be built following the cut and cover top-down method, said Metro officials.
“For construction of these diaphragm walls, cranes and other machinery have been deployed at the station site,” said Kausik Mitra, the Metro spokesperson.
“In order to construct this station, around 29 trees, which have already been identified, will be transplanted to Kamardanga near Beliaghata,” he said.
“A vibration-impact study has already been done. A health survey of the basement of the Victoria Memorial Hall has already been done. Different measures will also be taken to reduce the air and noise pollutions during the construction work,” Mitra said.
The purple line had recently run into another hurdle.
The defence ministry has refused to grant permission to the Metro Railway to shift a market to build the proposed Esplanade station that would be the terminal station of the corridor.
“There is no headway on the stalemate yet,” said a Metro official.
