Metro Phase II delayed by a year, rollout now pushed to April 2027

Kochi: The Phase II of the Kochi Metro corridor, originally planned to begin operations across its first five stations— from JLN Stadium to Padamughal—by June 2026, has been pushed back by nearly a year owing to a temporary funding crunch.With the financial bottleneck now resolved, Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) has revised its target, aiming to commission the entire 11.2km stretch from JLN Stadium to Infopark by April 2027.As reported earlier by ToI, a shortage of funds had stalled critical civil works, derailing plans to launch services up to Padamughal by mid-2026. Acknowledging the delay, KMRL has dropped its earlier two-phase launch plan.Rather than opening the full section by Dec this year as originally envisaged, the authority is now targeting a single commissioning of the entire line by April next year.The major hurdle— a delayed foreign loan — has since been cleared. The Rs 1,016.24 crore loan from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is now ready for disbursal. After a year-long wait, the state govt gave the nod to secure the loan in the second week of Feb. "The process of availing the loan has been completed and we expect to receive the first instalment by next week," a senior KMRL official said. With funds expected shortly, KMRL plans to fast-track civil and electrical works for completion by Dec, followed by three months of testing and commissioning before train services can begin.On the ground, piling works are 85% complete, with activity remaining only in the JLN Stadium–Palarivattom stretch. Afcons Infrastructure Ltd is executing the civil construction under a Rs 1,141.32 crore contract.The Pink Line will span 11 stations: JLN Stadium, Palarivattom Junction, Palarivattom Bypass, Chembumukku, Vazhakala, Padamughal, Civil Station Junction, Cochin SEZ, Chittethukara, Kinfra and Infopark. KMRL is also evaluating its operational model, whether to run trains directly through the existing network or terminate services at JLN Stadium, requiring passengers to interchange for Phase I (Aluva–Tripunithura) destinations.The new corridor is expected to benefit around 75,000 Infopark employees and 25,000 workers from Smart City and Kinfra, who currently depend heavily on private vehicles due to poor public transport connectivity."We urge the authorities to speed up work and open the Phase II corridor at the earliest," said Anish Panthalani of Progressive Techies, a socio-cultural body representing Kerala's IT park workforce.