Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate the deepest metro station in the country during his visit to Pune on August 1. He will flag off Metro trains as part of the inauguration of two corridors of Pune Metro Phase I – the 6.9km Phugewadi-Civil Court stretch and the 4.7km Garware College-Ruby Hall-Clinic stretch.
The foundation stone of this project was also laid by PM Modi in 2016. Pune Metro's Civil Court Interchange Metro Station, which is 33.1 metres deep, is set to become the country's deepest metro station and the city's largest.
The underground Civil Court station, spread across 11.17 acres, will have 18 escalators, eight elevators and seven entry and exit gates. It is also equipped with a tunnel ventilation system while commuters will have access to a parking lot that can accommodate 500 two-wheelers and 100 four-wheelers and a designated drop-and-go lane.
The depth of metro stations is usually increased when there is a shortage of space, especially in the case of interchange stations like the Civil Court station. It will also have a skywalk linking a third metro corridor from Civil Court to Hinjewadi.
The station's roof is 95 feet high and is designed in such a manner that sunlight falls directly on the platform. This is expected to save a lot of energy.
Kolkata held the previous record
Since April, the country’s deepest station was in the Kolkata Metro network's Howrah station which was 33 meters below the surface.
Before that, the Hauz Khas Metro Station of Delhi Metro's Janakpuri West-Botanical Garden corridor was India's deepest metro station at 29 meters underground. The Hauz Khas station has nine elevators and 23 escalators. Before Hauz Khas, Chawri Bazar was the deepest metro station in the Delhi Metro network situated 25 meters underground.
Chennai Metro to break Pune's record soon
However, the record for the deepest metro station in India may soon shift to Chennai as construction work is going on to build the Thirumayilai Metro Station on the Orange Line there. The T-shaped station, which is a key interchange connecting Corridor 3 and Corridor 4 of Chennai Metro, will be 35 meters deep.
