Kochi Metro-An Overview

Kochi Metro-An Overview

The city of Kochi has been asking the government and its Mayor as well as Corporation for a long time to solve its traffic & infrastructure problems by installing a mass transit system in place. The population has risen rapidly, there have been unacceptable and unpredictable journey times by road etc.; necessitating the need of a metro rail system. Almost all cities in Western countries and India have metro rail, (some of them for decades) so why can’t Kochi?

Obviously, in these kind of projects, a lot of time would go in planning & research. So, construction finally started in June, 2013 and the completion of first phase and initial operations started on June 17, 2017.

A total of 25 stations have been planned along the two lines. The Vyttila Mobility Hub would serve as one of the interchange stations. It serves the purpose of changing trains as both are in opposite corners of the town.

Look at the features of the stations. There will be an automatic fare collection system, automatic announcement system, electronic information display boards. These terms were only used/heard in European/American towns. Facilities are being made so that the stations will be easily accessible to physically handicapped persons. Wi-Fi facility, an important feature for the growing population of smartphone-users is also being planned at some of the stations.

Metro Rail Systems around the world all have been proven to be eco-friendly and cause low energy consumption. The latter is very important as the state faces frequently short-power crisis. State-of-the-art electric systems have been put into place to avoid energy crunches. A very important stat is that energy consumption of the Kochi Metro will be one-tenth as that of the city's road traffic. This adds to the importance of it. Also, it saves fuel; thus playing a major part in reducing the city’s pollution levels, caused by automobile exhaust. KMRL is also planning to use solar power for five of its stations on the elevated corridor. Thus, they are doing their incentives for “Green Energy”.