KMRL begins service trials

Kochi Metro Tail (KMRL) today began service trials on the Aluva-Palarivattom stretch, two days after it secured fitness nod from rail safety panel.
Multiple three-car trains were used for the service trials between Aluva station and Palarivattom, Kochi Metro official said.
"KMRL started service trials with multiple trains today at 6 am. This will go up to 10 pm. The headway was 11.5 minutes and there will be 142 trips today, " a KMRL spokesperson said.
Service trials will continue tomorrow too with 4 trains, she said.
Entire operations in the 13-km stretch were being conducted testing the signaling and communication systems and functioning of trains, officials said.

KMRL Managing Director Elias George had said yesterday that service trials will begin soon.
The important step ahead of commercial operationalisation of train service was taken after the Commissioner for Metro Rail Safety gaveclearance certificate to the Metro.
George said the first phase of the Kochi Metro Project is thefirst of its kind to get the fastestsafety clearance,compared to other metro projects in India.