The Kochi metro’s 1.80-km-long Pettah-SN Junction corridor, the first stretch to be built by Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL), will be commissioned in June.
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Speed trials on the ₹453-crore corridor got over recently, following which service trial in the Pettah-SN Junction corridor is expected to begin by the end of April. Finishing touches are being given to Vadakkekotta and SN Junction stations, while fire safety inspection will be done in a week. The Commissioner for Railway Safety is expected to inspect the corridor in May, KMRL sources said.
The work on the 1.80-km stretch began on April 21, 2020 and went on as scheduled, despite COVID curbs. The viaduct was completed within 795 days of commencement of piling. The land for the two stations alone cost ₹99 crore. It will take the total number of metro stations to 24.
KMRL has, in the meantime, acquired 85% of land needed for the metro’s SN Junction-Thripunithura extension. Piling and allied construction work are under way in 50% of the acquired land, metro sources said.
Thripunithura Rajanagari Union of Residents Associations (TRURA) and Metro Road Action Committee said that KMRL and Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) officials would hold a meeting on April 26 to discuss the four-lane road mooted beneath the metro’s Thripunithura extension. The two bodies had petitioned the GCDA seeking administrative sanction for the road.