After the Cochin Shipyard delivered two more boats on Saturday (July 30), Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) is set to provide Water Metro services in September.
Before being commissioned, the boats will undergo intensive technical trials for about a month.
According to a KMRL official, four electric hybrid boats have already been delivered, and a fifth is expected to arrive soon.
“We had received two boats earlier, and now we will be able to conduct the trial runs. We are hopeful of getting all five boats required to begin operations before September,” a KMRL official said, reports New Indian Express.
The Cochin Shipyard is building a total of 23 electrically propelled fast hybrid boats with 100-passenger capacity for the water metro project.
For the Rs 747-crore water metro project, 15 routes have been identified, connecting 10 islands spanning 76 kilometers.
Of the total 38 jetties planned, the ones at High Court, Vypeen, and Mulavukad are almost finished, and the ones at Vyttila and Kakkanad are already ready. There will be 14 more jetties ready by December.
The tendering process for the construction of jetties on recently acquired land is currently underway.
In 2021, the State government recommended the formation of a fare-fixing committee to revise Water Metro’s fare structure in accordance with market conditions. Experts in public transportation have urged for affordable tariffs, emphasizing that islanders will be reliant on the Water Metro rather than metro trains.