KOCHI: With Kochi Metro turning out to be a popular transportation mode, demands have arisen from various quarters to start the services early, which would facilitate a lot of rail commuters heading to Ernakulam Junction railway station early in the morning.
Currently, metro services start at 6 am on weekdays, while the first trains from Aluva and Tripunithura stations (both directions) on Sundays depart only at 7:30 am.
“We request the metro authorities to start the services at 4.45 am so that long-distance commuters could catch the early morning trains to both directions (Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur) from Ernakulam South station (Ernakulam Junction railway station).
They could easily operate one or two services before 6 am, when the regular services now start. The frequency of services doesn’t matter here,” said Paul K J Manvettom, president, All Kerala Railway Passengers Association.
A number of trains, including Intercity Express (16341; 5.15 am), Kannur Express (16305; 6 am), Ernakulam-Kottayam-Kollam Memu (6 am), Guruvayur Fast Passenger (56370; 6.10 am), Tatanagar Express (18190; 7.15 am), and Dhanbad Express (13352; 7.25 am) depart from the Ernakulam Junction railway station, he said.
“A lot of regular commuters are currently affected by the lack of public transport facilities early in the morning. Earlier, private buses used to operate early morning trips from Tripunithura region and all.
Now after the coming up of Kochi Metro, they have stopped the trips, but the metro services will start at 6 am only. A lot of commuters travel in the Intercity Express at 5.20 am. Hence, running one or two trips would turn out to be beneficial for a number of passengers,” said V C Jayendran, secretary of Tripunithura Rajanagari Union of Residents Associations.
When contacted, Kochi Metro sources said, the KMRL had earlier conducted a study on the commuter patronage for the early morning trips and the outcome wasn’t much encouraging.
However, Paul Manvettom pointed out that there is no need for services at the usual frequency of 8 minutes 30 second and that one or two trips would suffice.
‘FoBs sought at three stations’
Meanwhile, All Kerala Railway Passengers Association has submitted a memorandum to the Railways to coordinate with the KMRL and construct foot overbridges (FoBs) at three metro stations – Tripunithura, Ernakulam South and Ernakulam North.
“Now that the metro is operating from near Tripunithura railway station, we have also demanded stops for more trains there. This would facilitate commuters in reaching the destinations in the city quickly. Many of the trains now halt in between Tripunithura and Ernakulam South/North stations, due to traffic congestion. Also we request the metro authorities to provide a 30% discount in ticket rates instead of the current 20% to woo more passenger patronage,” Manvettom said.
Metro timings
Headway from Monday to Saturday
First passenger service time from Aluva and Tripunithura stations: 6am
Last passenger service time from Aluva and Tripunithura stations: 10.30pm
Service interval during peak hour: 7min
Service interval during non-peak hours: 8min 30 seconds
Headway on Sunday
First passenger service time from Aluva and Tripunithura stations: 7.30am
Last passenger service time from Aluva and Tripunithura stations: 10.30pm
Service interval: 9 minutes 5 seconds