Kochi metro conducts trial run on S.N. Junction-Thripunithura stretch

KMRL conducted trial run of Kochia three-coach rake on 1.18-km stretch b/w S.N. Junction & Thripunithura station. Trial run done to verify signalling & allied systems. Once commissioned, it will mark completion of 1st phase of 28-km Kochi metro corridor. Works on extension began in Sep 2020. Thripunithura terminal station has 3 platforms & 3 tracks. Daily passenger patronage to exceed 1 lakh after inspection by Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety.

A three-coach rake of the Kochi metro conducted trial run on the 1.18-km stretch between S.N. Junction station and Thripunithura station which is in the final stages of construction, at 1.30 a.m. on Thursday morning.

The trial run was done at slow speed, primarily to verify effective operation of signalling and allied systems. More trial runs would follow, including of a fully-loaded train, in the coming days. This would in turn verify the telecommunication and third traction, among other aspects, sources in Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) said.

Once commissioned, it will mark the culmination of the first phase of the 28-km Kochi metro corridor, having a total of 25 stations between Aluva and Thripunithura. KMRL single-handedly built the Pettah-Thripunithura viaduct, the rest being by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to which KMRL had awarded the work.

Addressing the media, M.P. Ramnavas, director (projects), KMRL, said the (preparatory) works on the extension had begun in September 2020. “There was delay in acquiring land since the extension was mainly through a greenfield alignment which had plenty of private land. The Railways gave land [adjacent to the Thripunithura railway station] in May 2022, following which works began in full steam from June 2022,” he said.

He added that the Thripunithura terminal station has three platforms and three tracks, keeping in mind the metro’s future extensions. KMRL had in 2022 hinted at it probing the option to link the Thripunithura station with the metro’s phase-2 Kakkanad extension that would end at Infopark. This would be apart from the metro’s Angamaly/airport extension and the MG Road-Menaka extension.

Metro sources said the daily passenger patronage, which hovers at approximately 90,000 now, would exceed one lakh once the Thripunithura extension was commissioned in about a month after inspection by the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety.