Power and energy The electricity supply in Kolkata is mainly done by
CESC Limited and
WBSEDCL. CESC is the sole distribution company serving 567 square kilometres (219 sq mi) of area administered by the
Kolkata municipal corporation, in the city of
Kolkata, as well as parts of
Howrah,
Hooghly,
24 Parganas (North) and
24 Parganas (South) districts. CESC also has its own Transmission & Distribution system through which it supplies electricity to its consumers. This system comprises a 474-kilometre (295 mi) circuit of transmission lines linking the company's generating and receiving stations with 85
distribution stations; a 3,837-kilometre (2,384 mi) circuit of HT lines further linking distribution stations with LT
substations, large industrial consumers and a 9,867-kilometre (6,131 mi) circuit of LT lines connecting its LT substations to LT consumers. West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) is a wholly owned
enterprise of
Government of West Bengal, established in 2007 as one of the two successors of
West Bengal State Electricity Board, and is responsible for providing power to 96% of
West Bengal which is not covered by CESC.
Communication and transportation Kolkata has excellent roads with numerous flyovers which add to the convenience of commuters. A network of expressways like
Kona Expressway,
Kalyani Expressway,
Belghoria Expressway, flyovers and widening of southern stretch of
Eastern Metropolitan Bypass are being created to ease up road traffic.
Maa Flyover is an important flyover in Kolkata. A large network of roads are spread over in Kolkata which helps to reduce
traffic congestion. Elevated roads are present in New Town and Rajarhat area of Kolkata. Kolkata is connected to other parts of India by the National Highways
2,
6,
34, and
117. The Belghoria Expressway connects NH 34 with NH 2 and 6 via the Nivedita Setu while the NH 117 is connected to NH 6 by the
Kona Expressway via the Vidyasagar Setu. Kolkata is well-connected to the rest of
India by an extensive railway network of the Indian railways. Two divisions of the Indian railways - the
Eastern Railway and the
South Eastern Railway - are headquartered in the city. A total of five railway stations serve Kolkata. The two major
railway stations of the city are at
Howrah and
Sealdah. The third station is called
Kolkata has recently been constructed. International trains such as
Maitree Express and
Bandhan Express depart from Kolkata Station. The fourth station is
Santragachi Junction which operates weekly and bi-weekly express trains to ease pressure on Howrah junction. The fifth station is named
Shalimar Railway Station which used to be a goods yard has been transformed into a station from where mail and express trains operate. The
Circular Rail encircles the entire city of Kolkata, starting and terminating at
Dum Dum Junction. Kolkata was the first city in South Asia to have an
underground railway system that started operating in 1984. Kolkata Metro is jointly owned by
Metro Railway, Kolkata and
Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation. It has four operational lines of total length of about 60 km. As of 2024, various other metro links of approximately 74 km route length are underway in different phases of construction in Kolkata. Kolkata is the only city in India to have a
tram network. Trams are under the administration of the
Calcutta Tramways Company, a government of West Bengal Undertaking, popularly called CTC (now merged with
West Bengal Transport Corporation). The environment-friendliness and the age-old charm of the trams attract some people. Now, several initiatives have started to improve the tram's popularity as well as increasing revenues. The results are positive. The Tram Museum is the latest addition to such schemes, which also include heritage trams' small models and meals on wheels trams i.e. with dining options. 1st AC passenger tram ran in the city in 2019. Each of the AC trams, built at the Nonapukur tram depot near Muzaffar Ahmed Sarani, cost Rs 25 lakh and is fitted with a 5.5 tonne AC unit, LED light bulbs and fans. The government buses were previously run by
Calcutta State Transport Corporation,
Calcutta Tramways Company,
West Bengal Surface Transport Corporation,
North Bengal State Transport Corporation and
South Bengal State Transport Corporation. In the year 2016, the first three government bus companies merged and formed
West Bengal Transport Corporation. The government buses are generally painted either blue color with white stripes or white color with blue stripes. This buses are identified by the WBTC symbol on the front windscreen and on their body. Both the name of the destination place as well as the name of the originating place is mentioned on the front of the bus either digitally [LED Board] or written [White Board]. The fleet consist of
Ashok Leyland JanBus,
Tata Motors Marcopolo Bus, and
Volvo 8400 buses and
Eicher Starline buses. Air-conditioned buses have been introduced in the year 2009 under
Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and are operated by WBTC. Air-conditioned buses have been included to provide comfort to daily commuters to make there travel less tiresome. In the year 2019, electric AC buses were introduced. Tata Motors were given contract by Government Of West Bengal to supply 80 such buses to WBTC. Non-AC buses fare start from whereas AC buses fare start from .
Ports Kolkata is a major river-port in eastern India. The
Kolkata Port Trust manages both the Kolkata docks and the
Haldia docks. There is passenger service to
Port Blair on the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands and
cargo ship service to
ports in India and abroad, operated by the
Shipping Corporation of India. Kolkata Port handled 65.660 million tonnes (mt) of traffic in 2022-23, around 12.86% higher vis-a-vis that handled during previous fiscal. Kolkata Dock System, the first major dock formally commissioned in 1870, handled cargo traffic of 17.052 mt in 2022-23, registering a significant growth of 11.46% over the previous year. Haldia Dock Complex, the 1st green port of the country in 2015, handled 48.608 mt in 2022-23, recording growth of 11.8% over the last year. During 2022-23, 6,75,904 Container TEUs were handled at the Port vis-à-vis 7,35,195 TEUs during 2021-22. Total containerised tonnage handled at SMP, Kolkata was 10.59 million tonnes in 2022-23 vis-à-vis 11.8 million tonnes in 2021-22. Kolkata Dock System handled 5,68,722 TEUs in 2022-23 compared to 5,69,783 TEUs in 2021-22, recording a marginal decline. In 2019-20 Kolkata Dock System achieved the highest ever container throughput of 6,75,439 TEUs. Haldia Dock Complex handled 1,07,182 TEUs in 2022-23 vis-a-vis 1,65,412 TEUs in 2021-22.
Kolkata Port ranked 1st in terms of coking coal & other coal handling amongst major ports of India.
Aviation Spread over 2640 acres at
Dum Dum in Kolkata, the largest in eastern India, the newly modernised
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport is the sixth busiest international airport in India in respect of aircraft movement (after Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai). It has two asphalt runways, the primary one extended by 700 meters (3627 × 46m) and upgraded to CATIIIB, and the secondary one (3190 × 46m) upgraded to CATII ILS standards. Its terminal is a new and sprawling L-shaped six-level integrated terminal of over 2,510,000 sq ft inaugurated in 2013, able to handle 25 million passengers per annum. It includes check-in counters that use CUTE (Common User Terminal Equipment) technology, 78 immigration counters, 12 customs counters, passenger lounges provided by Air India and Jet Airways, 18 aerobridges, 57 remote parking bays, 2 underground two-leveled carparks and car parking facilities in landscaped area capable of handling 5000 cars. The airport has a Centre for Perishable Commodities (CPC), two luxury hotels and a shopping mall. In the fiscal year April 2023 to March 2024, the airport handled 1,40,879 aircraft movements including 20,078 international aircraft movements, 19.784 million passengers (including 2.4 million international passengers and 17.31 million domestic passengers), 1,51,626 metric tonnes of freight. == Salt Lake and New Town ==