1st day, 1st show: Flyers take metro for faster, cheaper commute to, from airport
Times of India | 26 August 2025
Kolkata: When Italian travellers Giulia Ferruggia and Thomas Maggiore landed in Kolkata on Monday, they did not head for a taxi to reach their hotel in Park Street. Instead, they walked into the brand new Jai Hind metro station at the airport, and became the first set of passengers to use the city's newest link.
For the first time, flyers in Kolkata could skip cabs and use the metro to reach and leave the airport as services on the Noapara–Jai Hind stretch of the Yellow Line opened to passengers. "I read about the start of a new metro line on Monday and was shown the way by an airport staffer. They even suggested I download the metro app to plan my route to Park Street," said Ferruggia, who works at a museum in Rome.
The two landed in Kolkata after travelling across Ladakh, Jaipur, Amritsar, Agra, and Delhi. The couple took the Yellow Line from the airport to Noapara, switched to the Blue Line, and reached Park Street station before walking to their hotel. "The journey was super comfortable. The trains and stations are very clean, and the rakes have enough space to accommodate luggage trolleys," said Maggiore, a physiotherapist. | Gold Rates Today in Kolkata | Silver Rates Today in KolkataMumbai resident Niladri Chakraborty, in Kolkata to attend a conference, also took the metro from the airport to reach his office at Sovabazar. "Earlier, a cab ride would cost more than Rs 600. On Monday, I reached the office from the airport in Rs 25," he said.
Birbhum resident Ashraf PC, who was headed to Kerala with his wife, initially planned to travel to Sealdah by train and then take a cab to the airport. "But upon learning that the metro network was complete, I took a metro from Sealdah to Esplanade on the Green Line and from there changed to the Blue Line. From Noapara, I took the Yellow Line Metro to reach the airport. The entire journey was extremely comfortable and was a new experience in urban travel altogether," said Ashraf.
Ayush Adesara, a resident of Jaipur who reached Kolkata on Monday, was also alerted by the airport staff about the new Metro line operational from Monday. "I took the Metro to Noapara and then changed trains to reach MG Road. This is how modern transport should work," he said.
TOI on Monday found flyers walking through an 80-metre tunnel with walkalators and escalators from the terminal to the station, then using external elevators to reach the departure level. The walkalators seemed to have become a new selfie zone for the flyers outside the airport. A trip from Jai Hind station to Shahid Khudiram (the Blue Line terminal) costs Rs 35, while a ride to Dakshineswar costs Rs 15. Services now run at 15-minute intervals between 8 am and 8 pm on weekdays.