Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Hindu
The Hindu
National
John L. Paul

Commuters in Kochi may get services of light trams

Even as Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) is awaiting a Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) for the city to revise its blueprint for the ‘metro neo’ extension that was proposed on the 4-km MG Road-Menaka-Park Avenue Road-Hospital Road-MG Road loop line, officials of a firm that deals with ‘light trams’ are expected to meet their KMRL counterparts here on Tuesday (April 9), it is learnt.

They would discuss, among others, the feasibility of operating such ‘light trams’, an improvised version of the bus-rapid transport system, in this loop line and in other corridors where constructing a conventional metro would entail substantial land acquisition and massive capital investment. If realised, this would become a feeder service for the Kochi metro, helping improve patronage in the metro’s Aluva-MG Road-Thripunithura phase-1 corridor. It would also integrate the metro with Water Metro ferries that operate from the High Court terminal.

Such light trams operate in, among other places, Brisbane. Tuesday’s discussion will shed light on whether they can be operated in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode, apart from Kochi. The firm is learnt to have reached out to KMRL in this regard. These trams that resemble metro coaches can be operated through roads, much like buses.

The metro agency was hitherto mulling metro neo, yet another mass rapid transport system (MRTS) that can be built at less than a fourth of the cost of conventional metro, through this loop line in the city hub, and also in the 6-km Thripunithura-Infopark corridor. A decision would be taken in the coming days on which system is apt for the city, after considering the savings in capital investment and also operation and maintenance expenses, it is learnt.

Commuting needs

A blueprint for metro neo had been readied in 2022, based on, among others, data regarding the travelling pattern of commuters. This shed light on commuting needs beyond MG Road to passenger-dense locales like High Court Junction, Marine Drive, Menaka-Ernakulam Market-Broadway commercial hub, and Park Avenue Road which is flanked by Children’s Park, Subhash Bose Park, Rajendra Maidan, a host of educational institutions, and places of worship.

Systems like metro neo and light trams are not only much cheaper, but are considered sustainable than conventional metro, while carrying approximately similar number of commuters.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.