KOCHI: While it goes ahead with the works on Phase-II of the metro, the Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) has tasked a Delhi-based consultancy firm with conducting a revised study on the Aluva-Kochi airport extension, which falls under Phase-III of the rail project.
Urban Mass Transit Company Limited (UMTC), which focuses on sustainable urban mobility solutions, will carry out the revised study. KMRL MD Loknath Behera said the need for a new study for Phase-III arose as the one done in 2014 had become outdated.
“The 2014 study for Phase-III has become old. We cannot move ahead with the project based on its data. So, we tasked UMTC with conducting the revised study,” Behera said. He said KMRL hopes to release the data on the possibilities and technologies that would need to be incorporated for Phase-III by the first or second week of July. KMRL is also keen on a tie-up with the Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL), which will be a beneficiary of the metro rail’s extension.
“As both the Centre and the state government are involved in the project, it will be good if we can tie up with CIAL to work in collaboration,” Behera said. KMRL is exploring the possibility of incorporating a Paris Metro model, where a passenger boarding a flight can check in luggage at the metro station itself, Behera said.
He said the people of Kochi and tourists boarding flights from here will benefit the most from metro rail’s extension to the airport. “The metro and check-in service will help them save money and avoid traffic. Instead of shelling out Rs 1,200 for a cab, they will have to pay a maximum of Rs 60 for a metro ticket and avail the baggage check-in facility at the metro station. They can then go straight to the passenger lobby for boarding the flight,” Behera said.
He said metros in major cities like Paris and London provide such services. “Passengers’ luggage is picked up from the train and moved to the aircraft. The airport and the metro work together,” he added.
“In Delhi, even ministers and MPs are utilising the metro’s airport line mainly to avoid Delhi traffic and because it is convenient,” Behera, the former state police chief of Kerala, said.
On lines of Paris