DMRC confirms Kochi Metro corridor will be ready by Mar.31

E. Sreedharan to discuss commissioning with Chief Minister

tracking progress: Officials of DMRC, led by its Principal Advisor E. Sreedharan, inspect the Kochi Metro viaduct from Aluva to Palarivattom on a motor trolley on Monday.

With the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) confirming on Monday that the 13-km-long Aluva-Palarivattom corridor of Kochi Metro will be readied for commissioning by March 31 and the 5-km-long Palarivattom-Maharaja’s Ground stretch by June, it is up to the State government to decide on partial or full commissioning of the project.

The confirmation came after a team of DMRC officials led by its Principal Advisor E. Sreedharan inspected the Kochi Metro viaduct from Aluva to Palarivattom on Monday on a motor trolley, focusing mainly on stations in the route. While expressing satisfaction about the progress of works, he instructed metro officials to speed up civil, electrical, signalling and telecommunication works in the metro corridor to adhere to the deadline, says a DMRC press release.

Metro officials were enthused at 85-year-old Sreedharan inspecting the viaduct and stations in a motor trolley, from morning to afternoon, braving humid weather.

To meet CM

Reacting to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s suggestion to commission the project after works are completed up to Maharaja’s Ground, Mr. Sreedharan told media persons here that this aspect would be discussed with Mr. Vijayan. The DMRC had earlier sought commissioning of the Aluva-Palarivattom corridor, followed by opening up of the stretch up to the ground located on M.G. Road. This was to enable corrections of faults, if any, in the metro in the city hub, based on operational feedback from the Aluva-Palarivattom stretch.

Track laying up to Palarivattom was completed a month ago. Signal- testing trial will go on in the corridor for another month. The four-year contractual agreement to complete the works will end in June. The DMRC is keen on completing phase one up to the ground before June. There is some delay in completing works on the station and viaduct in the vicinity of Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium at Kaloor. Mr. Sreedharan was accompanied on the motor trolley by, among others, DMRC’s Kochi Project Director Dani Thomas, chief engineers Shaji Zacharia and Keshav Chandran and deputy chief engineer C.M. Balan.

Train arrives

In the meantime, coaches for the fourth metro train arrived at the coach depot in Muttom on Monday. With this, integrated trial of multiple trains is set to begin shortly in the Aluva-Palarivattom stretch.