Fifteen Years On Hold, Fifteen Days To Finish How A Kolkata Metro Bottleneck Was Finally Plugged

Jyoti Rathi - Kolkata Bureau May 26, 2026 900 Views

A critical 62 metre viaduct gap on Kolkata Metro’s New Garia–Airport Orange Line, stuck for more than 15 years in clearances and conflict, has finally been bridged in just 15 days of actual work at Chingrighata crossing. The late night construction sprint, completed ahead of schedule, has turned into a showcase example of what happens when permissions, politics and planning finally align in West Bengal’s infrastructure ecosystem.

The long delayed New Garia–Airport Metro corridor had been operational everywhere except at the busy EM Bypass–Chingrighata junction, where road closure approvals and traffic disputes stalled girder launching for years. With courts and commuters running out of patience, authorities were pushed into finally clearing the deck for a compressed, high intensity construction block.

What Exactly Was The Stuck Project

The missing piece was a 62 metre stretch of elevated viaduct over the Chingrighata crossing on Kolkata’s EM Bypass, part of the New Garia–Airport Metro (Orange Line) being built by Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd.

Although most of the line had been built, this small but crucial gap prevented continuous metro operations to the IT hub and towards the airport, forcing partial services and repeated deadline slippages.

How A 15 Year Logjam Turned Into A 15 Day Push

According to railway officials, the actual technical work of launching steel girders and completing the viaduct was wrapped up using night traffic blocks over two consecutive weekends, with the crossing reopened three hours ahead of schedule on the final day.

The Calcutta High Court had earlier directed agencies to provide firm traffic block dates and finish the overhead work by mid February 2026, after which the final execution window was planned with police, the state government and Metro authorities working in tandem.

Governance Lessons From The Chingrighata Fix

The Chingrighata episode underlines how even a short viaduct can become a symbol of systemic delay when road closure permissions, political differences and inter agency coordination break down.

It also shows how tightly supervised blocks, court monitored timelines and a clear nod from the state can turn a 15 year embarrassment into a 15 day engineering sprint, clearing the way for full Orange Line operations by around December.

Project Turnaround Highlights

New Garia–Airport Metro Orange Line’s 62 metre gap at Chingrighata was the missing link on an otherwise built corridor.
Work was delayed for years due to traffic permission disputes, state–centre friction and repeated deadline extensions.
Court orders forced agencies to lock in specific road block dates and complete girder launching at EM Bypass.
Railways used night blocks across two weekends, finishing girder work and reopening the junction ahead of schedule.
Full commercial operations on the stretch are now targeted around December, giving Kolkata’s IT and airport belt long awaited metro connectivity.