KOCHI: Kochi Metro’s second phase, from JLN Stadium to Infopark-Kakkanad, will be known as ‘Pink Line’ and involve only digital tickets. Kochi Metro Rail Ltd managing director Loknath Behera said the project has gathered steam with KMRL floating the tender for designing and building viaducts.
Work on the 11.3-km-long elevated line, with a total of 11 stations, is likely to begin by December this year.
“The commissioning of the Pink Line is expected by December 2025,” Behera told reporters in Kochi on Friday.
“The Pink Line will have only digital tickets. The move is to promote paperless ticketing,” he said.
The name ‘Pink Line’ will emphasise the safety of women passengers working at Infopark who often have to walk several kilometres or rely on cabs, especially during night time, he said.
The viaduct tender has been floated on the KMRL website and e-tender portal. It will be open until October 25, 2023. A pre-bid meeting has been planned for September 22. The work will be awarded to the successful bidder by mid-November. “Once the work is awarded, we intend to finish the civil construction work in 20 months and the system and signalling work in another four months,” said Behera.
“Unlike phase 1, precast method will be adopted in the construction of stations to speed up the civil construction work in the second phase. Approximately, six hectares of precast yard have been identified at HMT Kalamasery,” Behera said.
The stations on the stretch are: JLN Stadium (new station box); Palarivattom Junction; Palarivattom Bypass; Chembumukku; Vazhakkala; Padamughal; Kakkanad Junction; Cochin SEZ; Chittethukara; KINFRA (formerly Rajagiri); InfoPark 1/Smart City 1; and InfoPark 2 / Smart City 2.
Explaining the stations’ design, Behera said the stretch being congested, the stations will have minimal areas.
“Of the 11 stations, four will have direct entry to the platform from ground level, avoiding the concourse floor. This is to reduce the access time. We are also exploring the feasibility of having platform screen gates for enhanced safety,” said Behera.
“Since there is limitations for parking space, we are planning to set up multi-level parking facilities as well,” he added.
The acquisition of private land for the station entry structure will be completed by November. The total cost of the second-phase project is Rs 1,957 crore. Of this, the Government of India and the Government of Kerala will be funding Rs 338.75 crore and Rs 555.18 crore, respectively. The funding agency, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), will allot Rs 1,016.24 crore (with around 3% interest rate). An amount of Rs 46.88 crore will be pooled in through the public-private partnership model. The AIIB team will visit Kochi for further discussions in the second week of September.
To supervise and monitor the work, a general consultant — Systra and Systra MVA Consortium — has been appointed. Egis India is the detailed design consultant for the Phase 2 of the project. Behera also said that the Tripunithura station is expected to be commissioned by the end of December this year.
“Once the Tripunithura station is opened, we expect an average ridership of 1 lakh commuters per day,” he said. “The figures will increase with the commissioning of phase 2,” he added.
The phase 2 of the metro project will have two special spans — steel truss of more than 60m each (similar to the one constructed between Milma and Tripunithura in Phase 1). In Phase 2, one will be at the Palarivattom bypass crossing, and the other at the existing Phase 1 crossing at St Martin Church, Palarivattom Junction.