- Thursday, April 24, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
In an environment-friendly move, the southern Indian state of Kerala has launched the country’s maiden “water metro”, connecting a number of islands with the busy centuries-old port city of Kochi.
The state’s government claimed that the clean-energy project is Asia’s largest integrated water transport system. Pinarayi Vijayan, the chief minister of India’s only communist-ruled state, said the water metro will bring a “major revolution in water transportation” and boost tourism in Kerala, which is known for its backwaters and beaches.
A significant enhancement to Kochi's infrastructure! The Kochi Water Metro would be dedicated to the nation. It will ensure seamless connectivity for Kochi. pic.twitter.com/SAvvEz8SFt
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 23, 2023
The 48-mile project worth Rs 1,136.83 crore was inaugurated on Tuesday (25) by prime minister Narendra Modi who was on a lightning visit to the southern state to woo voters ahead of next year’s general elections. Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party is not a significant player in Kerala’s politics but that doesn’t demoralise his party apparatus from putting in efforts in the state.
The water metro will see a fleet of 78 electrically propelled boats that will serve on 15 routes with 38 stops and feed into the city’s metro system. The minimum fare has been kept at Rs 20 and the first phase of the project will daily serve 34,000 passengers, The Times reported, adding that only four stops are currently in use.
The system will help people living on islands in the Vembanad lagoon by providing them with transport facilities. The lagoon is called the “Venice of the East” because of the network of canals that serves them.
The network, which is due to be completed by 2035, is being set up by Kochi Metro Rail, and is backed by a loan from German development bank KfW.
According to Vijayan, the project could provide a blueprint for environment friendly water transport that could be used in several other Indian cities that have abundant waterways. The metro’s aluminium catamaran-hulled boats use chargeable lithium titanate oxide batteries, produce little noise and have a small wake, unlike in traditional ferries.
The water metro, when operational, is expected to bring down carbon emissions by 44,000 tonnes annually, the Times report added.
The government of Kerala has shown a keenness to revive and modernise water transport which has a key role in the growth of the state that is home to 34 million people and Kochi, which has been ruled at various times by European powers such as the Portuguese, Dutch and British.
While 90 per cent of people of Kerala used small boats to reach the mainland at the turn of the 20th century, it has come down to less than three per cent today as more and more people have opted for wheeled transport with the betterment of roads and bridges, the report added.
The water metro, when fully operational, is expected to decongest the roads.
