DPR for North-South green corridor in Kochi by November

The detailed project report (DPR) for the 2.5-km European Union (EU)-aided ‘green corridor’ proposed between Ernakulam Town (North) and Ernakulam Junction (South) railway stations is expected to be readied by November.

The much-awaited corridor has been envisaged under a 1-million Euro grant from the EU under Mobilise Your City (MYC) programme, to decongest M.G. Road and Banerjee Road in Kochi by providing direct connectivity between the two railway stations. It will thus lessen the distance between the two stations by almost half.

In addition, it will have links with the KSRTC bus station (which will be relocated to Karikkamuri in a couple of years) and four metro stations on the route, helping bus and metro commuters as well.

The project is expected to pick up pace in the coming months, a year since its French project consultant readied a feasibility report in July 2020. Mayor M. Anilkumar said the stretch would shortly be inspected by a team of officials of the Kochi Corporation, Railways, and other stakeholders, in order to take the project ahead.

Apart from building a safe and modern corridor for pedestrians, bicyclists, and two-wheelers, the green corridor will have e-rickshaws and e-autorickshaws. The stretch will largely run parallel to the railway track linking the two stations, thus also helping railway personnel commute between the stations. The ill-lit stretch has often been in the news for being a haven for anti-social elements. This will change once the corridor is ready, official sources said.

The corridor has been envisaged with a uniform width of 12 metres and will run approximately 2.5 metres away from the railway land. There will also be a utility corridor (duct). Two options have been conceptualised in the design readied by a team of postgraduate students of Government Engineering College, Thrissur, and TKM College of Engineering, Kollam.

Under option-1, the carriageway will be confined to a 3.50-metre dedicated space for electric vehicles with restricted two-way movement and designated cycle lanes and footpath, each of 3-metre and 2.50-metre width respectively. Under option-2, the carriageway having a width of 5.50 metres will enable the operation of electric vehicles in both directions, with 3.7-metre width each for cyclists and pedestrians. Both the options will have a utility corridor 1.20-metre and 1-metre width respectively, they added.

Bollards have been envisaged at regular intervals to ensure safety of pedestrians. Steps will also be taken to prevent direct connectivity to the corridor from side roads. This will ensure that the corridor will be strictly used for non-motorised transport (NMT) and e-vehicles, thus safeguarding the design principle of promoting green mobility.

The 2.5-km corridor will shortly be surveyed to assess the ownership of land that will have to be acquired. The expense of the project has been tentatively pegged at ₹16 crore (confined mostly to the construction cost), since almost all landowners are willing to surrender land in their backyard for the project, the sources said.