Kerala Monorail Corporation Ltd. (KMCL)’s decision to seek the opinion of Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) on the light metro proposed for Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode and the latter’s report that the coaches should have a width of 2.9 metre has raised many eyebrows.
KMCL sought KMRL’s opinion on the light metro proposed by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in place of the now-scrapped MRTS after the KMCL board, chaired by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, had given the nod to DMRC to prepare a detailed project report (DPR).
KMRL had proposed bigger coaches as in Kochi Metro for ‘getting competitive bidders and in view of the large number of suppliers for these type of coaches,’ official sources told The Hindu.
DMRC Principal Advisor E. Sreedharan had mooted coaches 2.7-m wide, 18-m long, and with a low axle load of 12 to 13 tonnes capable of negotiating very sharp curves and steep gradients.
As the width of the coaches goes up to 2.9 metre, the axle load will also go up substantially. This will need drastic changes in civil structures and could lead to cost escalation. The capacity of a light metro is up to 25,000 per hour per direction traffic (PHPDT) and an extra coach can be added. The decision to seek KMRL’s opinion and their suggestion to increase coach width was intended to impede the light metro project, a transport planner said. The expertise of Kochi Metro is also in question as the light metro is being introduced for the first time in the country. “For Kochi Metro, it is the DMRC led by Mr. Sreedharan that plans, supervises, and executes the project,” he said.