India's first underwater train to be launched in Kolkata soon.

In a first, India will soon run underwater metro under the Hooghly river in Kolkata. “The KMRC team, including engineers from abroad, has completed the construction of India’s first underwater tunnel under the Hooghly river,” said Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation (KMRC) Managing Director Satish Kumar. He added, “India has joined a select band of nations. Another rare feat achieved by Kolkata after getting the first metro railway in the country in 1984.”

Here’s All You Need to Know About India’s First Underwater Metro in Kolkata:

1) With a tunnel built under the Hooghly river, the underwater metro will connect Howrah to the west and Salt Lake to the east of West Bengal, close to Kolkata.

2) The 16.4 km-long mass rapid transport (MRT) project was constructed by the Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation (KMRC).

3) The estimated cost of the project was around Rs 9,000 crore.

4) The project is otherwise known as the East-West Metro project.

5) The construction work of the tunnel from the Howrah end commenced in the last week of April. The work was completed on June 20 after it reached the Kolkata end.

6) Two tunnels have been bored at a distance of 13 metres beneath the riverbed and 30 metres from the ground. They are meant for the onward and return journeys.