KOCHI: Here’s the good news for residents of Tripunithura. The Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) is planning to extend Metro services up to the Tripunithura railway station.“We are mulling the option to stretch Metro to the Tripunithura railway station. The two-and-a-half km stretch from SN Junction to the railway station is not in the existing plan and has to get the state government’s approval. A pre-feasibility study should be conducted before preparing a DPR,” said KMRL managing director A P M Mohammed Hanish.
He said the Metro service along the Maharaja’s College-Thykoodam stretch is expected to begin by May-June 2019 and to Pettah by December 2019. However, the land issue with regard to the Thykoodam-Pettah stretch is yet to be resolved and land acquisition procedures are not over yet. “Alignment fixing is on for the Pettah–SN Junction stretch. Certain objections raised by oil companies over the alignment have been sorted out,” he said.
On the second phase, he said the social impact study for the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium - Kakkanad- Infopark line will begin soon. Mohammed Hanish, however, clarified the extension of Metro to the Cochin International Airport at Nedumbassery was not under consideration. Hanish said KMRL is gradually reducing its losses and the projected loss for the first year of service will be around Rs 60 crore which is comparatively less compared to the performance of other Metro rail services in the country in the first year of operation.
“The operational cost of Kochi Metro is Rs 38 lakh per day and its income is Rs 19 lakh. Though the loss per month from the date of commencement of operations till December 2017 stood at Rs 6.6 crore, there have been some positive signs during the past months - the loss has reduced by Rs 1 crore in January and February. There is also an increase of 13 per cent in the ridership, which comes to around 36,000 per day. The decision to reduce parking fees has also been fruitful as it has attracted more vehicle owners to ride the Metro. The KMRL is also getting a good income from advertisements. All these factors have helped reduce the loss by Rs 1 crore,” said Mohammed Hanish.
Mohammed Hanish said the advertisement to lease out commercial space at the metro stations has evoked a huge response.‘’The State Bank of India has been allotted space at the Aluva Metro station and we are getting enquiries for spaces in other stations too,’’ he said. According to KMRL, the Kochi Metro’s performance in the first year is far better compared to that of other Metros during the same period. In the first year, the Delhi Metro incurred a loss of Rs 167 crore when service was conducted on the 25-km stretch.
While the Bengaluru Metro (8 km) registered Rs 51.64-crore loss, the Chennai Metro’s loss in the first year was Rs 116 crore when the service was conducted on the 10-km stretch. The six months’ loss for Kochi Metro from June - December was Rs 39.6 crore ( Rs 6.6 crore per month).
Maintaining the KMRL has no plans to reduce ticket fare, Mohammed Hanish said the majority of passengers who started using Metro after the KMRL introduced a 50 per cent discount in ticket fare for 40 days continued using the service even after the offer expired.
Water Metro
Mohammed Hanish said the design consultant for the Water Metro Project will be appointed next month.
Preparatory work such as land acquisition and dredging of the channels has started. “The water metro will connect nearly one lakh people staying around Kochi to the city and will decongest roads,” he said.