KOCHI: This year’s Onam festivities now barely weeks away will have an added splendour for Kochiites if Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL)’s plan to dedicate the Metro’s Palarivattom-Maharaja’s stretch fructifies.
The KMRL officers are hopeful of commencing operations along the 18 km-long Aluva-Maharaja’s College ground stretch by September first week. With this, the Metro will be connected directly to the city centre and will serve the major purpose of the project, ie, connecting the suburbs to the city centre.
The trial run on the stretch was completed on Sunday morning with a quality check of train ride and modern instrumentation. Now, after the remaining finishing works are carried out, the authorities concerned will take the call.
Also, the rolling stock and track tests were conducted between Palarivattom and Maharaja’s College ground. Besides,a compatibility test was carried out as part of trial run in the non-passenger timings at the stretch. The trial run was held between the Metro’s Palarivattom and Maharaja’s stations last week.
It was conducted initially at a speed of 10 kmph which was increased at the rate of 10 kmph for each subsequent trial run to reach the maximum speed limit of 80 kmph which is the maximum speed of the train planned for this stretch. At present, Kochi Metro connects 11 stations between Aluva to Palarivattom. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) officers have expressed confidence they will be able to complete the civil works, especially those of the stations by August.
The pending works, include electrification of stations, interior design and signalling works at the station.
The stations will have specially designed interiors in tune with the specialty of the area - the JNI Stadium will have the sporting heritage of Kerala as its theme; Kaloor station will feature monsoon, waterfall and waterbodies of Western Ghats; the dragonflies and butterflies of Western Ghats will adorn the interiors of Lissie station and endangered species and mammals of Western Ghats will be MG Road’s theme. The Maharaja’s College Ground station will depict Ernakulam and its history as the main theme.
On right track
With the commissioning of Reach II, the Metro will be connected directly to the city centre
The trial run on the stretch was completed on Sunday
Reach I
The Metro’s phase I - the 13.4 km stretch between Aluva and Palarivattom- was commissioned last month.