Kochi: The overhead rail corridor that supports the 13-km Phase I of the Kochi Metro, dedicated to the nation Saturday morning, is a marvelous attempt to redefine the public transport system.
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It also envisages a paradigm shift in the outlook of a teeming metropolis, which is also the business hub of the state. That the Phase I from Aluva to Palarivattom was completed in a record four years is in itself a testimony to the efforts of metro man E. Sreedharan's attempt to pursue the project as a game-changer.
Read: PM Narendra Modi dedicates Kochi Metro to the nation
The completion of the phase in four years warrants a glowing tribute in a nation where even smaller projects costing a few hundred crores take years and ultimately result in cost escalation.
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Probably, this is also a lesson in cost reduction, a fact that even critics of the Metro would be forced to agree. It however, remains to be seen how much of road traffic the Kochi Metro would be able to absorb on its own.
Read: Metro must reach all residential and commercial centers of Kochi, says E Sreedharan
Perennial skeptics are voicing many concerns and some of these are not without merit. Kochi is not a planned city and most of the Metro stations, at least on phase one, have entrances on busy narrow roads on which the 640 pillars that hold the tracks are situated. And there is definitely a lack of parking area in these stations.
It remains to be seen if a majority of citizens would leave back their vehicles and opt for the metro after the initial curiosity of the metro ride withers away. Reclaiming the capital investment of such a major project is a distant dream.
Rather, that idea should not be pursued at all, according to a senior official who was in charge of the project in its formative stages. The broader common goal of easing congestion and the ancillary benefits that would accrue to the metropolitan city that is struggling to combat its ever increasing vehicle population should be factored in while attempting any fair assessment of the Kochi Metro Rail Ltd.
There are also concerns that not even a fifth of the traffic in the city would be serviced by the Metro project. If such concerns are true, that would have a bearing on the passenger load envisaged by the planners also. But then planners of any mass rapid transit system would have to fend such charges.
Kochi Metro is an engineering marvel, no doubt. And the pros and cons will be debated till the completion of the other phases also. Only time will tell how this MRTS would facilitate a sea change in the way citizens commute in the port city.
