Know All About India's 1st Water Metro PM Modi Launched In Kochi Today — 10 Points

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched India's first and ambitious water metro in Kerala’s Kochi. Here's all about the project.

India's first water metro in Kochi, Kerala.

Source : Twitter - @narendramodi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday inaugurated India’s first water metro in Kerala’s Kochi which has been built at the cost of over Rs 1,000 crore. The ambitious project will now open the water metro services for people to experience in a bid to boost the ease of living in the town. 

Here’s All About India First Water Metro 

1. The water metro will connect 10 islands in and around Kochi a network of routes that span 78 km through 15 identified routes. 
2. The Kochi Water Metro Project has been completed at a cost of ₹ 1,137 crore with the financial assistance of the German Bank, KFW. The Cochin Shipyard Limited is the manufacturer of the project. 
3. More than 1,00,000 islanders are expected to benefit from the water metro. 
4. The project intends to introduce modern, energy-efficient, environment-friendly and safe boats with low wake and draft characteristics at a high frequency to increase ridership. 
5. The headways shall vary between 10 minutes to 20 minutes across various routes at peak hours. There will be Navigational buoys and night navigational assistance throughout the routes. Water weed and floating waste management are envisaged in this project. 
6. The various components involved in the Kochi Water Metro Project are: Boat Terminals and Access Infrastructure Boats Boatyards Dredging along the identified routes and terminals Systems – Navigation, AFC, PIS, VCS, CCTV and Operation & Control Centre.
7. All boat terminals are divided into paid and non-paid area. The ticketing facility, Ticket vending machine, Station control etc. are in unpaid area. Waiting area, Toilets, etc are provided in paid area. All terminals are facilitated with Automated fare collection and turnstile system for passenger counting. 
8. There are 78 eco-friendly boats for passenger service 23 of them are 100 pax and the remaining 55 are meant for 50 passengers. In addition to these passenger boats, there are four numbers of Rescue cum Workshop vessels for supporting the main fleet in case of emergency and for maintenance. 
9. The price will start from ₹ 20 and will go up to ₹ 40 for a trip. Regular commuters will be able to get travel passes - weekly for ₹ 180, monthly for ₹ 600 and quarterly for ₹ 1,500, NDTV mentioned citing BQ Prime. The tickets can be purchased at the ticket windows located at the terminals as well as through a mobile QR code, it added. 
10. The Kochi water metro will run from Lithium batteries with Lithium Titanate Oxide (LTO) technology.