Orange Line is a rapid transit metro line of the Kolkata Metro in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It will connect New Garia with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport via two major satellite towns of Kolkata metropolitan region, Salt Lake and New Town. It currently operates between Kavi Subhash and Beleghata. This line will be one of the most important stretches of Kolkata Metro because it will connect the southern and the eastern parts of the city with Kolkata Airport. The total distance of this route will be . It has an interchange with the Blue Line at Kavi Subhash and will eventually connect with the Green Line near the IT Centre and Yellow Line at Jai Hind. This line had 5.92 lakh passengers in the 2024–2025 fiscal year.
History
This project was sanctioned in the budget of 2010–11 by Mamata Banerjee with a project deadline of six years. The execution of this project has been entrusted to the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) at a cost of . It will help to reduce travel time between the southern fringes of Kolkata to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport and will have 23 elevated stations, one underground station and one at-grade. The terminal airport station is the underground one.
Work for construction of the terminal station at New Garia for the Kavi Subhash-Biman Bandar (via Rajarhat) metro project finally resumed on 14 February 2017 RVNL demarcating the plot they require for the purpose.
The work has been delayed for years due to multiple issues. At first, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) objected the station above the ground, stating that this could be a threat for air traffic. Many underground utilities, power sub-station and water treatment plant had to be shifted. Encroachments and land acquisition problems held up the project for multiple times.
The stretch from New Garia to Ruby Hospital was expected to start from 2018. As of 2023, the station and associated metro viaduct connections were fully completed with trial runs being conducted over this and other phase 1 stations. RVNL planned to launch the metro over this truncated route before that year's Durga Puja, but this was postponed due to signalling issues.
The Kavi Subhash–Hemanta Mukhopadhyay section of Orange Line was inaugurated on 6 March 2024 by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with the truncated sections of Taratala–Majerhat under Purple Line and Esplanade–Howrah Maidan under Green Line. A week later after inauguration and a day after commercial run started on Kavi Subhash-Hemanta Mukhopadhyay section, RVNL announced the completion of a viaduct gap after construction of a single-span open-web girder steel bridge over Tagore Park culvert. This completed the viaduct up to Beliaghata metro station. RVNL has faced enormous challenges while working, in one such incident it incurred enormous loss of over 5 crore rupees due to lack of clearance of traffic from Kolkata Police and work being stalled for over 60 days. The Hemanta Mukhopadhyay–Beleghata Orange Line extension was opened on 22 August 2025, along with the truncated sections of Noapara–Jai Hind under Yellow Line and Esplanade–Sealdah under Green Line.
The service starts from 8 am and ends at 8:05 pm, with 60 pairs of services from Monday to Friday. All the trains run at a frequency of 25 minutes.There are no services on Saturdays and Sundays.
Timeline The following dates represent the dates the section opened to the public, not the private inauguration. HistoryExtension dateTerminalsLength 6 March 2024Kavi SubhashHemanta Mukhopadhyay 25 August 2025Hemanta MukhopadhyayBeleghataTotal Kavi SubhashBeleghata Stations
The stations are named after eminent Bengali personalities. and will have 22 elevated stations, one underground station and one at-grade. The terminal Airport station will be the underground one. This station will also have a stabling yard and it will be the largest underground facility of India and city's first. It will be long and wide and will facilitate stabling and reversal of rakes, but it will not be a carshed. One will be able to interchange to Yellow Line at Dum Dum Airport, Green Line at VIP Road (Teghoria) and near IT Centre and Blue Line at Kavi Subhash. At Kavi Subhash, rail interchange is also available (Sealdah South Section).
On 4 January 2021 the state government decided to rename nine metro stations in New Town area to their more prevailing names, rather than using the old ones which were given during the planning phase. The state transport department informed Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) of the new names of the proposed nine metro stations between Nazrul Tirtha at the entry of New Town from Salt Lake Sector V until Chinar Park, the last station on the line before it turns right on VIP road towards Kolkata Airport.
Orange Line#Station nameOpeningConnectionsLayoutPlatform type EnglishBengali 1 Jai Hind (Airport) জয় হিন্দUnder construction NSCBI Airport UndergroundSide & island2VIP Roadভি আই পি রোড Teghoria (proposed)ElevatedSide3Chinar Park চিনার পার্ক4City Centre-2সিটি সেন্টার-২5Mangaldeepমঙ্গলদীপ6Eco Parkইকো পার্ক7Mother's Wax Museum (New Town Action Area 2)মাদার্স ওয়াক্স মিউজিয়াম8Shiksha Tirtha (Jatragachhi)শিক্ষা তীর্থ9Biswa Bangla Convention Centreবিশ্ব বাংলা কনভেনশন সেন্টার10Swapnabhor (New Town Action Area 1B)স্বপ্ন ভোর11Nazrul Tirtha (New Town Action Area 1A)নজরুল তীর্থ12Nabadiganta (Technopolis)নবদিগন্ত13IT Centre (Salt Lake Sector-V)আই টি সেন্টার Salt Lake Sector-V14Nalban (Nicco Park)নলবন15Gour Kishore Ghosh (Chingrighata)গৌর কিশোর ঘোষ16 Beleghataবেলেঘাটা22 August 202517Barun Sengupta (Science City)বরুণ সেনগুপ্ত18Ritwik Ghatak (Uttar Panchanna Gram)ঋত্বিক ঘটক19VIP Bazarভি আই পি বাজার20Hemanta Mukhopadhyay (Ruby Crossing/Passport Office)হেমন্ত মুখোপাধ্যায় 6 March 202421Kavi Sukanta (Kalikapur)কবি সুকান্ত22Jyotirindra Nandi (Mukundapur)জ্যোতিরিন্দ্র নন্দী23Satyajit Ray (Panchasayar)সত্যজিৎ রায় 24 Kavi Subhash (New Garia)কবি সুভাষ (under construction) New GariaAt gradeSide & island
See also Kolkata Metro List of Kolkata Metro stations Kolkata Metro rolling stock Lists of rapid transit systems Trams in Kolkata Kolkata Light Rail Transit Kolkata Monorail Kolkata Suburban Railway
References