Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 25 inaugurated the first phase of the Kochi Water Metro – a first of its kind public boat service in India integrated with a metro rail network.
Kochi Water Metro
The Kochi Water Metro is a project being implemented by Kochi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (KMRL) with the assistance of a German funding agency, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau. It includes boats that are hybrid, battery-powered, air-conditioned and disabled-friendly among other features. The water metro will operate on water bodies like any other ferry or traditional boat service, but with modern facilities, enhanced safety and security measures.
Kochi Water Metro is an integrated ferry transport system serving the city of Kochi in Kerala, India. It is the the first-ever integrated water transport system of this size and scale in India as well as Asia, that will connect Kochi’s 10 island communities with the mainland through a fleet of 78 battery-operated electric hybrid boats plying along 38 terminals and 16 routes spanning 76 kilometers. It also serves as a feeder service to suburbs along the rivers where transport accesibility is limited.
Kochi Water Metro was inaugurated and opened to passengers by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 April 2023. The metro system is expected to become fully operational by 2035 with a daily commuter-count of 1.5 lakh passengers.
Kochi is mostly surrounded by backwaters and bordered by the Arabian Sea. It is interconnected by hundreds of waterways, which offers a way to make the public transport system much more accessible and environment friendly. Water Metro is expected to solve the travel issues of the islanders of Willington, Kumbalam Vypeen, Edakochi, Nettoor, Vyttila, Eloor, Kakkanad, and Mulavukad.[10] In the first phase, the water metro started sailing on two routes, High Court to Vypin and Vyttila to Kakkanad with eight electric-hybrid boats.
The total cost of the Water Metro project is ₹1,137 crore (US$140 million). The KfW Development Bank will be providing EUR 85 million as long term soft loan and the Government of Kerala will be contributing ₹102 crore (US$13 million).