Pavement encroachment by local eateries in Kolkata has led to design modifications for the penultimate station of the Orange Line Metro at Chinar Park.

What Happened: At least four restaurants have extended their outdoor facilities onto the pavement, hindering the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) from securing an alternate space for traffic movement, as reported by the Times of India. RVNL needs to barricade a 33m x 140m area in the middle of Biswa Bangla Sarani to build the first level of the Chinar Park or Rabindra Tirtha Metro station.

The encroachment has also left insufficient room for the construction of two of the four accesses to the Metro station. A retired engineer from Delhi Metro voiced concerns over the compromised construction due to the two-way casting, which deviates from the standard practice of continuous casting, the report added.

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The Bidhannagar Police's traffic department has suggested a solution of allowing half the road’s width to be cordoned off from 11 pm to 5 am, and RVNL could split the casting in phases. This arrangement would keep the airport-bound flank free day and night, and the New Town-bound traffic would flow through the service road next to it.

Afcons Infrastructure is contracted to complete the ₹533 crore package comprising 3.5 km from City Centre II in New Town to the Airport by Jan 31.

The Orange Line Metro project has been a significant focus for RVNL, with the company recently completing the construction of the final two piers of the Orange Line at Metropolitan, Kolkata, a month ahead of schedule. This progress was a significant step towards the completion of the 8km extension from Ruby to Sector V, which RVNL aims to complete by December.

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