BHUBANESHWAR: The Bhubaneswar metro rail corridor is likely to be extended to Cuttack so that the twin cities are connected by metro instead of stopping it at Trishulia, housing and urban development minister Krushna Chandra Mohapatra said on Tuesday.
“A high-level technical team on the job is evaluating the possible modification/extension of routes and design. There is no point stopping the metro just on the outskirts of Cuttack and not covering it. We are looking at the metro operations afresh. The project will be executed but with some modifications,” Mohapatra said.
Officials said the modification plan has nothing to do with the ongoing depot and precasting works. Official sources said the additional detailed project report (DPR) may include a plan to build a bridge over the Kathajodi river if the routes were to cover Cuttack through Trishulia. “Since Cuttack is an old city and its internal roads are cluttered, fixing the right stoppage for the metro may be a bit tricky. It may run through prominent places like those of Bhubaneswar for the convenience of commuters and metro operations,” an officer from Bhubaneswar Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) said.
According to the existing plan, the metro in Bhubaneswar was to decongest Bhubaneswar. If the Cuttack plan is implemented, the deadline for completing the project may go beyond Dec 2027. Moreover, it is not clear whether the Bhubaneswar part will be made operational first and then Cuttack will be included in the second phase.
Commuters who shuttle daily between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar will be able to reach the twin city centres in just 30 minutes, the railway station in 35 minutes, and the airport in 45 minutes. According to BMRCL, it will take 45 minutes to travel from Trishulia to the airport, but the exact interval between trains to reach a station is yet to be calculated. Similarly, the likely travel time inside Cuttack is not known so far.
After successful soil testing, the BMRCL took up the precasting workshop and coach maintenance depot. The facility is manufacturing precast structures for pillars and columns, which will significantly speed up construction along the 26-km-long elevated metro corridor. The route now has 20 stations.
