Kolkata metro has witnessed growth in infrastructure development and capacity expansion despite the Covid-19 pandemic. PM Narendra Modi had earlier inaugurated the extended stretch of north-south metro station from Noapara to Dakshineswar. He said that the metro station would help the people of Kolkata, Hooghly, Howrah and North 24 Parganas. The non-interlocking work of the Noapara carshed was carried out successfully. The work included modifying the electronic interlocking system at Noapara, well connected to all the routes, signals and track sections in the carshed. It improved the operational and flexibility of movement to and from Noapara. The first successful trial run was carried out between Phoolbagan and Sealdah of the East-West Metro. A 1.24 MW rooftop solar power plant has been installed over the roofs of the buildings of the Central Park Depot of the East-West Metro across a 19,173 sq m area. Due to the solar power system, the metro railway will save nearly Rs 45 lakh each year. Tokens are re-introduced in the metro railway to benefit the commuters. North-South and East-West metro stations have 40 token sanitizer machines. A QR code-based ticketing system has also been introduced in the East-West metro station. Now, metro tickets are available at the fingertips of the commuters. It is also planning to introduce a QR code ticketing system on the North-South metro corridor. Branding Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) gates have been completed for two years and earned around Rs 73.50 lakh by offering the branding rights of 350 gates at the metro stations. North-South Metro stations have also completed branding 52 Carb Balance Checking Terminals (CBCT), which helped the metro station earn Rs 12.48 lakh. According to the tender agreement, Power Bank Rental Towers have been installed at 24 metro stations from Noapara to Kavi Subhas, and the metro station earned Rs 12 lakh for one year. Image Source Also read: Kolkata metro starts services to extend Noapara to Dakshineswar line