The eagerly-awaited extension of the Kochi metro services to Thykoodam is slated for inauguration on September 3 by Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister of State, and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, if everything goes according to plan. Commercial operations will begin on September 4.
The September 3 function will also see the foundation-stone laying of the metro’s 1.5-km Pettah-Thripunithura extension which the KMRL is expected to implement, and the work inauguration of the first terminal of the Water Metro project in Vyttila.
The inaugural function will be held at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium at Kadavanthra on Tuesday morning.
CMRS inspection ends
Meanwhile, a team led by K. A. Manoharan, Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety (CMRS), concluded the inspection of Kochi metro’s Maharaja’s College Ground-Thykoodam stretch on Saturday.
They inspected metro stations in Elamkulam, Kadavanthra and Ernakulam South. The two stations at either end - Maharaja’s Ground and Thykoodam - were inspected on Friday.
The team inspected various station facilities such as station access and signage, lifts, escalators, technical rooms, and station control rooms. They also inspected signalling systems, telecom equipment, electrical and mechanical equipment in the stations, bearings, verticality of piers and camber measurements of the superstructure of the viaduct.
The train testing in the 5.50-km extension too was conducted on the day, said a KMRL release.
The inspection of the viaduct portion, including the balanced cantilever near Ernakulam Junction Railway Station, were carried out on Friday.
The authorisation certificate of the CMRS, permitting commercial operations by metro trains in the corridor, is expected latest by Sunday, KMRL sources said.
