Kochi metro’s airport extension could be a metro-lite system
The Hindu
The facility can be readied at less than half the capital expense of a conventional metro
The Centre’s approval for the Kochi metro’s second-phase extension to Kakkanad (Infopark) is in the “final stage”. But a metro-lite network is more probable for the third-phase extension mooted from the metro’s Aluva terminal station to the international airport at Nedumbassery in Ernakulam district, participants said at the director board meeting of Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) held online on Thursday. Metro-lite system is preferred worldwide, especially in European cities, since it can be readied at less than half the capital expense of a conventional metro. They can be ‘at grade’ (at the ground level, like a tramway) or even elevated, but with a much lighter viaduct than the metro, official sources said. The Centre is non-committal about sanctioning a conventional metro, although the district administration said land acquisition for the Kakkanad extension would be completed by December.A crowd comprising farmers, researchers, professors, students, and horticulture enthusiasts thronged the ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Hesaraghatta, Bengaluru, on Friday for the inaugural ceremony of the Triphal Diversity Show which showcased 300 mango, 100 jackfruit, and 100 banana genotypes in collaboration with ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Tiruchirappalli.
The State government on Friday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Additional Director-General of Police, Manish Kharbikar of the Economic Offences division of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to probe the alleged multi-crore scam in the government-run Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation.