Among the standout teams of Sandbox CCU’s Top 6, one group captured everyone’s attention with their unique approach to solving one of Kolkata’s most pressing urban challenges: overcrowding in the metro system. The six-member team behind the project, aptly titled Metro in Dino, blended research, empathy, and innovation to propose impactful solutions for millions of daily commuters.
Their starting point was simple yet powerful: listening to the frustrations of everyday passengers. Office workers packed shoulder-to-shoulder, students arriving late and exhausted, women facing safety concerns in cramped compartments, and elderly commuters struggling for accessibility — these real voices became the backbone of their research.
The team’s investigation revealed staggering statistics: a 13.3% rise in riders in 2024-25, with over 21.81 crore people using the metro annually. The Blue Line alone carried the lion’s share, leaving passengers waiting for multiple trains to squeeze inside. Technical failures, safety risks, and mental health strains all painted a grim picture of a system buckling under pressure.
But instead of stopping at identifying problems, the team pushed forward with bold ideas. Drawing inspiration from global practices, they recommended solutions like increasing train frequency, adding more coaches, and even staggering office hours. Their most striking proposal, however, was the introduction of double-decker metro trains. This concept, while ambitious, could nearly double passenger capacity without requiring new tracks or stations — a transformative step for a growing city like Kolkata.
The result was more than just a project — it was a vision of a safer, faster, and more breathable metro system. With passion, teamwork, and mentorship, Metro in Dino demonstrated how young minds can reimagine the future of public transport.
Their work stands as a reminder that innovation doesn’t always mean reinventing the wheel — sometimes, it’s about giving an age-old system the space it desperately needs to breathe.
The Sandbox CCU 2nd Edition at Techno India University, created a dynamic platform where freshers stepped into the shoes of innovators and “founder CEOs.” Guided by Pauline Laravoire (The Rebalance Institute) and Rohaan Goswami (Elseplay), and powered by Make Calcutta Relevant Again (MCRA), the program combined design thinking, gamified prototyping, and real-world problem solving. With focus areas spanning Employment, Transportation, Healthcare, and Heritage & Public Spaces, the edition ignited creativity across disciplines and gave young minds the chance to present bold, future-shaping ideas for the city.