Not many know that the planners of the Metro had floated the idea of an east-eest route from Ramrajatala to Salt Lake way back in the 1970s.

Accordingly, the Central Station was designed as a future junction of north-south and east-west corridor.

"The Central Station, with its futuristic design, was ahead of its time when it was constructed," said a senior engineer of the Metro Railways.

It was built on the lines of multi-tier stations of the London and Paris metro. "It has provisions for a two-tier set-up. There is space below the existing station to accommodate another platform and tracks," said Jayanta Kumar Mitra, Chief Operations Manager, Metro Railways.

A new set-up (platforms, tracks and other related facilities) will be located nine to twelve metres below the existing station.

The second level will serve only the east-west corridor. Escalators and staircases will run down from the first level to the platform below.

The station already has three platforms running parallel to each other and only one at the centre is currently operational.

The other ones now lie idle, and the east-west corridor lines will put to use these two platforms.

If a commuter wishes to travel from say Sector five station (east-west) to Shyambazar ( north-south), he will have to disembark at the second level of the Central station and take an escalator to the first level.

The commuter will now be on the platform to board the Shyamabazar bound train. The doors of the trains will open on both sides to allow people to get in from platforms on either side.