KOCHI: Even as the civil works of Kochi Metro are progressing at a slow pace in a few stretches after the trial run, the second trainset will reach here early next month. Trainmaker Alstom will dispatch the second set of coaches from its Sri City plant in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday. The consignment will be transported via road and is expected to reach at the Muttom maintenance yard on July 8.
Once offloaded the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has to carry out its assembling and safety tests as per the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) of the Railways. The speed trial of the new coaches will start by mid-July. The testing procedures will not be as intense as that of the first set of rolling stock because these are made for the Kochi track.
“The first set was just prototypes, and a detailed and intensive testing procedure was needed before the trial run on actual tracks. But these coaches have been made based on the exact specifications for Kochi and don’t require much critical work,” said a top metro official. The tests will be done at the inspection bay line of the coach maintenance yard.
“Construction of the coaches has been completed at the Alstom plant and the testing is on. The next set will be delivered in next three weeks. KMRL needs nine trainsets, with three coaches, by March 2017. Since the coachbuilding was over, they will be sent every three weeks,” he said.
The KMRL had placed an order for 25 trainsets in August 2014 with each coach having a passenger capacity of 250 and a minimum service life of 35 years. The first set of rolling stock was handed over to KMRL in January this year, completing coachbuilding five months ahead of schedule mentioned in the detailed project report.
