'Allow Me Some Nostalgia Today': Mamata Recalls Role In Expanding Metro Infra Ahead Of PM Modi's Kolkata Visit
Mamata Banerjee highlighted her role in Kolkata's Metro expansion, both as Union Railway Minister, planning and funding new corridors, and as Chief Minister, facilitating execution by providing land and resolving hurdles.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday took to social media to share a nostalgic post detailing her contribution to Kolkata’s Metro expansion. Banerjee, who has decided to miss the inauguration of three new metro corridors by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kolkata today, traced her involvement in the expansion of the metro's infrastructure in the city when she was the Union Railways Minister and also as Bengal's CM now.
In a post on X, Banerjee wrote that as Union Railway Minister, she was “fortunate in planning and sanctioning a series of Metro Railway corridors” in the city, covering areas like Joka, Garia, the Airport, and Sector V. She said she not only drew up blueprints and arranged funds but also initiated the groundwork to create an intra-city Metro grid.
Reflecting on her tenure as Chief Minister, Banerjee highlighted her key role in ensuring the execution of these projects by providing free land, building approach roads, rehabilitating displaced families, and removing administrative hurdles.
"Our chief secretaries successively held a series of coordination meetings to ensure integration of execution agencies," she said.
"My planning as Railways Minister got fulfillment in my participation in execution. Expanding Metro infrastructure has been a long journey for me. Allow me some nostalgia today," the Bengal CM wrote on X.
Allow me to be a little nostalgic today.
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) August 22, 2025
As the Railways Minister of India, I was fortunate in planning and sanctioning series of Metro Railway corridors in metropolitan Kolkata. I had drawn the blueprints, arranged the funds, initiated the works and ensured that the different…
PM Modi will visit Kolkata today and is slated to inaugurate three new metro corridors in the city, including Green, Yellow, and Orange lines, which will drastically slash the travel time.
With today's inauguration, Kolkata Metro will directly connect the airport with the rest of the city for the first time in its 41-year journey.
The Green Line extension, hailed as a "game-changer," will run between Sealdah and Esplanade (2.45 km) now. It will provide the first seamless metro link between the twin stations of Howrah and Sealdah, which are the city's busiest railway terminus.
The Yellow Line stretch from Noapara to Jai Hind Airport (6.77 km) will give the city its first direct metro ride to the international airport. The Orange Line stretch from Hemanta Mukhopadhyay (Ruby) to Beleghata (Metropolis) (4.4 km), will link Science City, several hospitals, schools and busy commercial hubs.
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