The Railway Board was contemplating this for quite some time now. On Monday, chairman K C Jena met Bhattacharjee and briefed him on the proposal. State chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb had also discussed the matter with Jena during his visit to New Delhi recently.

"The chief minister was actually happy with the proposal. The modalities will now have to be worked out. Once it happens, the entire railway network within the city of Kolkata will come under a single nodal body. This will certainly improve coordination," a senior railway officer said.

A few years ago, the central government had decided that all urban transport projects (including Metro Railway) would be taken up by the state governments in consultation with the Union ministry of urban development as the nodal authority. The cost sharing for urban railway projects would be divided between the state governments and the nodal ministry. This effectively meant that the ministry of railways would have nothing to do with urban railway projects, save providing advisory services.

The Delhi Metro Railway Corporation was set up on these lines. The West Bengal government was also contemplating a metro railway corridor running east to west. After the ministry of railways refused to play any part in the project, KMRC was set up as a joint venture company of the Centre and the state government. It was authorized suitable capital with the two promoters taking equity shares as envisaged in the financing pattern.