Onam Gift: Kochi Metro gets 5 more stations as Kerala CM opens Thykoodam stretch

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 04: Commuters dependent on public transport in Kochi, Kerala's financial capital, got a pre-Onam gift on Tuesday as the Kochi Metro's services were extended to Thykoodam, adding five more stations to the train network.

With Kochi Metro extending its services to Thaikoodam from Maharajas College, residents of Kochi can now pass swiftly through some of the bottleneck areas in the city avoiding the horrible traffic jams.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday inaugurated the five new stations of Kochi Metro - Ernakulam South, Kadavanthra, Elamkulam, Vytilla and Thaikoodam. With this, the 18 kilometre functioning stretch of Kochi Metro has been extended to a total of 23 km.

The extended metro stretch was part of the first phase of Kochi Metro. In the full stretch of Aluva to Petta in the first phase, only Aluva to Maharajas College had become functional when the metro services started. Thaikoodam, till which metro has become functional now, is the stop before Petta and only Petta is yet to become functional in the first phase.

The chief minister added that construction on all terminals of the Water Metro is progressing at a fast pace and that the project is expected to be commissioned in March 2020. The Water Metro aims to connect all the islands around the Vembanad backwaters in the Greater Cochin to major road, train and Metro stations. At present, the Vyttila hub also serves as a bus and ferry terminal. With the addition of the Metro station, Vytilla can be easily reached by commuters.