Track laying begins; Kochi metro’s Thripunithura railway station extension by June 2022
The Pettah-S.N. Junction stretch of the Kochi metro will be commissioned in March 2022, as per revised schedule, with Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) completing 72% of work in the 1.70-km corridor. KMRL had earlier fixed December 2021 as the deadline for commissioning the stretch.
Subsequently, laying of tracks on a 500-metre stretch has begun, to be followed by another 500 metres in a week. Track-laying in the final lap atop the viaduct at the Pettah overbridge and Vadakkekotta will begin in June, sources in the metro agency said.
As many as 57 of the 61 pier caps and 208 of the 276 I-girders have already been launched. Similarly, 75% of deck slabs have been installed. Around 900 metres of viaduct have been completed with parapet erection and handed over for track work. Unlike during last year’s lockdown when the metro work suffered after a bulk of the workforce left for their home States, altogether 400 workers have been deployed in multiple shifts in the metro corridor in keeping with the COVID-19 protocol. Their accommodation has been arranged in four locales, and arrangements have been made for medical assistance if any of them tests positive for SARS-CoV-2, the sources said.