An exuberant crowd of over 100 personnel of Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC) waited at Kochi Metro’s Aluva station to welcome a technical team led by Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) K.A. Manoharan who inspected five stations in the Aluva-Muttom corridor on Wednesday.
The team began their three-day inspection with a pooja at the station’s entry and went on to inspect key components of each station. The focus was on safety of civil structures and systems including coaches. “They also quizzed metro’s technical personnel to verify how well equipped station controllers and train operators were on technical know-how, their response to different situations including emergencies,” KMRL Managing Director Elias George told The Hindu .
All this is critical for the CMRS to issue safety and competency certificate. The team later went on motorised trolleys along the metro corridor to inspect stations at Pulinchodu, Companypady, Ambattukavu and Muttom. The day’s inspection went on well and the CMRS was likely to issue safety certificate for the Aluva-Palarivattom corridor in a week, he said.
On how equipped KMRL was to operate and maintain the metro, Mr. George said the agency was fully geared for taking up different tasks. “Train operators, station controllers, Kudumbasree workers at stations and personnel manning the depot and operational control centre are ready to perform their assigned tasks.”
He added that personnel of the State Industrial Security Force (SISF), who would provide security at stations, would adorn an elegant, commando-like uniform. In the meantime, it is learnt that traffic wardens who streamlined traffic when civil works were under way on the metro corridor have requested that they be accorded priority in appointment as security guards to manage traffic in the vicinity of stations. The high-level team would inspect Kalamassery, Cusat, Pathadipalam, Edappally, Changampuzha Park and Palarivattom stations and the metro depot at Muttom on Thursday and Friday.
