[FueledbyFury]

Kochi's Water Metro

I have been surfing through the forum in commercial vehicles, and I have wondered why there was no thread based on Kochi's water metro even though its operation started in April 2023. It was one fine Saturday morning, we have given our car for the periodic service in the ASS in Kochi. So along with my father, we have a lot of time to kill. Initially, we planned to roam around through the streets of Kochi, until my father mentioned he hadn't been on the Kochi water metro. So we boarded a private bus to Vypin to get a ride in the water metro. Upon reaching Vypin, we see the beauty of Kochi arriving on her jetty.

Kochi is mostly surrounded by backwaters and bordered by the Arabian Sea. It is interconnected by hundreds of waterways, which offers a way to make the public transport system much more accessible and environmentally friendly. The Kochi Water Metro is expected to boost the growth and development of Kochi by connecting 10 islands around the city. It will also boost tourism and replace the ferry services operated by the Kerala Water Transport Department with modern facilities. Water Metro is expected to solve the travel issues of the islanders of Willington, Kumbalam Vypeen, Edakochi, Nettoor, Vyttila, Eloor, Kakkanad, and Mulavukad. Initially, in the first phase, the water metro strategy sailed on two routes, High Court to Vypin and Vyttilla to Kakkanad with eight electric boats.

Technical Specifications

Water Metro features an aluminum catamaran hull design with a length of 24 meters, and twin screw propulsion will be able to run on lithium-titanium oxide-based batteries as well as diesel fuel. The boats will operate at a draft of 0.9m and be able to achieve a speed of 8kt on electric power and 10kt on diesel. its capacity for 100 passengers, 50 of which will be seated. The ferry is equipped with a Siemens electric propulsion system that draws power from a DNV-approved Echandia Marine 122kWh lithium-titanium oxide (LTO) battery pack, which, when fully charged, can enable it to sail for up to one hour. Alternatively, the vessel can run on power generated by the onboard diesel generator sets as well as in hybrid mode, which utilizes the generators in conjunction with the batteries. a ramp facility for the physically handicapped, a feeding chamber for mothers, mobile recharge facilities, and a charging facility at boat jetties. Safety measures such as an automatic boat locating system and a passenger control system are also in place.

General Details

Hull Material: Aluminium
Superstructure Material: Fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP)
Material: CONCRETE
Core : Expanded poly Styrene (EPS)
Size: 20m X 4.8m (for 100 pax boats) & 15m X 4m (for 50 pax boats)
Vessel Type: Passenger Ferry
NAV EQUIP: Radar, Thermal Camera, ABLS, Echo Sounder, DMR, CCTV
Classification: Dual Class (DNV-GL & IRS)
DNV: +1A, IN(1,2) METRO FERRY BATTERY POWER)
IRS: +IWL, +IY, ZONE2, FERRY

DIMENSIONS
Length OA : 24.8 m
Beam (OA) : 6.4 m
Depth (MLD) : 1.7 m
Draft(MLD) : 0.9m

PERFORMANCE
Design Speed (Hybrid Mode) :10 Knots
Service Speed (Electric Mode) 8 Knots
Service Speed (Diesel) 8 Knots

PROPULSION SYSTEM
Type Hybrid Twin Screw
Diesel Generators 2 x 40 KW
Propellers Ni-Al bronze

BATTERY
Type : lithium-titanium oxide (LTO)
Capacity : 120 KWh

Charging
OKAYA has installed the First Super Charger (150KW CCS2) for Water Metro. With the help of two chargers the water metro gets fully charged in 15 mins. Duration of operation from one single charge is 1 Hrs

Ticket/Fare Charges

The minimum ticket price of the metro system is 20 rupees and the maximum ticket charge is 40 rupees. The weekly pass is available at 180 rupees whereas the monthly pass costs 600 rupees and the quarterly pass costs 1500 rupees. Single journey tickets and various travel passes are available from the ticket counters in the terminals. Water Metro can be accessed using the Kochi Metro One card. It is also possible to travel using the mobile QR code booked through the Kochi One app.

Upon completion, the water metro will stretch over 76 km with 78 boats and 38 terminals, servicing six panchayats and three municipalities

[am1m]

Originally Posted by FueledbyFury

Water Metro can be accessed using the Kochi Metro One card. It is also possible to travel using the mobile QR code booked through the Kochi One app.

This is brilliant! Looks like they are looking ahead and this system is going to expand. Have visited Kochi a few times, and always loved the way Kochi utilizes its waterways.

Had some questions:

* Is this going to run on the existing ferry routes? (I guess those will run too for vehicles).
* What are the routes covered right now? Enough to be useful to regular commuters, or just a joyride for now?
* Will it replace the boat services that ply between smaller towns already, like Alleppey? Or just for Kochi city areas?

Thanks in advance for any replies!

[condor]

Nice report there, @FueledbyFury. A map of the current and proposed routes would have helped make it more complete a report.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by condor

Nice report there, @FueledbyFury. A map of the current and proposed routes would have helped make it more complete a report.

This should help

1. The official website provides a compact interactive map

2. This (slightly dated) news article provides a map with more details



.....


Thanks for sharing @FueledbyFury. Look forward to more reports on the forum once bhpians start using this service. I wish this was active last year itself; would have loved to use it during my Kerala cycling trip.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

This should help

Certainly does, thanks!

And the best part of a water metro implementation- all they need to get in place are the boats and the permissions to ply, unlike land-based metros with all the construction (and delays!)

Do other coastal cities use their waterways like this, to cut down on the local commute? Kolkata? Mumbai? I know Mumbai has several boats between Elephanta and Gateway, but that's mainly for tourists.

[Jeroen]

Nice write up! We have these here in the Netherlands too. We call them water busses. I use them frequently when going on ride on my bicycle. Bicycles go on for free. We still have quite a few of them running on diesel engine, but all of them will be phased out in the next few years for full electric vessels.

I love being out on the water. Makes for a very relaxing time.


Jeroen

[TKMCE]

Kochi Water Metro is an expensive toy already costing the taxpayer a lot. Project delays has been massive, execution is pathetic and most of the passengers are tourists.

They initially ran on two routes which is already mentioned in the post. Now a third one has started where bus services are there every 5 to 10 minutes and the route is so short (High Court to Bolghatty) that it may be quicker to walk for those who don't want to take the bus.

The route with the biggest potential and the one which should have started as the inaugural route - Ernakulam to Fort Kochi is still a few months away from starting Water Metro team blames litigation but if you cannot anticipate litigation in any project in Kerala, then seriously it indicates incompetence of the people steering the project. Another high density route to Mattancherry, is reportedly another couple of years away before we can even hope to see operations since the first contractor of the terminal construction there abandoned the project.

Water Metro is a lovely and cheap 20 to 30 minute air conditioned boat cruise. But as a public transportation system it will be a failure until the Fort Kochi route starts and even then there is no guarantee because the State Water Transport Department (SWTD) runs their non ac boats at a fare of Rs 6 while Water Metro costs Rs 20.

This is a project which may have been a roaring success even 30 years back, but now most of the surrounding islands are connected by bridges. Last mile connectivity leave a lot to be desired in both Metro and Water Metro. Also while the boats may be environmentally friendly, the batteries I understand need to be charged every hour. One of the first terminals of Water Metro to be ready was at Eloor in the suburbs but the service to Kochi apparently cannot start because it is too far for the boats to run on a single charge.

Originally Posted by am1m

This is brilliant! Looks like they are looking ahead and this system is going to expand. Have visited Kochi a few times, and always loved the way Kochi utilizes its waterways.

Had some questions:

** What are the routes covered right now? Enough to be useful to regular commuters, or just a joyride for now?

* Will it replace the boat services that ply between smaller towns already, like Alleppey? Or just for Kochi city areas?

Thanks in advance for any replies!

Right now most of the passengers are joyriders. Regular travelers need frequency and especially on the Kakkanad route you wont get too many end to end customers except at office timings. This is where the buses are useful. Also which regular traveler will que up along with the tourists for 1 or 2 hours (the scenario in the first few months) for a 20 minute ride?

Water Metro cannot go to suburbs like the ferries in Alappuzha where some journeys are more than 2 hours. The batteries to my knowledge need charging after every hour.

The regular ferries cover the main routes at a fare of Rs 6. Non Air Conditioned no doubt but for a 20 minute ride defnitely bearable.

[sandeepmdas]

In my opinion, this kind of buses have a lot of potential in Kochi, Alapuzha and the Thrissur districts. The DUKW amphibious bus. AFAIK no one is offering this service in south Asia.

Even if you managed to find a DUKW, getting license for one would be a herculean task. There is no mention - about a public transport vehicle than can cruise through water - in the MVD act. The Kerala Inland navigation rules does not allow wheeled boats. Also you need to register this thing both as a passenger boat and a bus at the same time.

See the bus in action (within the the first minute) in this Malayalam movie song which was shot in London.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub75hOkUCTw

[FueledbyFury]

Originally Posted by am1m

This is brilliant! Looks like they are looking ahead and this system is going to expand. Have visited Kochi a few times, and always loved the way Kochi utilizes its waterways.

Had some questions:

* Is this going to run on the existing ferry routes? (I guess those will run too for vehicles).
* What are the routes covered right now? Enough to be useful to regular commuters, or just a joyride for now?
* Will it replace the boat services that ply between smaller towns already, like Alleppey? Or just for Kochi city areas?

Thanks in advance for any replies!

1. Yes, it is running on existing ferry routes. At the time most of the passengers are tourists and regular commuters are on the lower end. While taking the traffic constraints in Kochi to hand it will be a good alternative.

2. The major water metro stations as of now are:

• High Court
• Vypin
• Vyttilla
• Kakkanad
• Bolgatty

3. There are some electric boats in the region of Alappuzha that are manufactured by a company named "Navalt". They have a wide variety of electric boats. Attaching images of some below:








https://navaltboats.com/

[maheshm619]

Originally Posted by FueledbyFury

The boats will operate at a draft of 0.9m and be able to achieve a speed of 8kt on electric power and 10kt on diesel.

Got information from an insider that the present propulsion system lacks sufficient power while the boat enters channels used by ships / large vessels and needs to engage diesel engines to push forward. This is a design failure or failure to analyze operating conditions properly beforehand.

Originally Posted by TKMCE

Kochi Water Metro is an expensive toy already costing the taxpayer a lot. Project delays has been massive, execution is pathetic and most of the passengers are tourists.

Some months ago , I had used the non-ac boat service to Fort Kochi and Wellington Island. They are frequent and cheap. A/C doesn't matter once the boat is in motion due to plenty of fresh air.
They should have utilized public money more efficiently than creating something which looks good in posters only.

[FueledbyFury]

Got information from an insider that the present propulsion system lacks sufficient power while the boat enters channels used by ships / large vessels and needs to engage diesel engines to push forward. This is a design failure or failure to analyze operating conditions properly beforehand.

If it's true, that's a big letdown from the R&D team of Kochi Water Metro as it took lots of delays for the establishment of the project. The project was started in 2016 and it was made available to the public from 2023 April onwards.

[digitalnirvana]

Originally Posted by am1m

Kolkata? Mumbai? I know Mumbai has several boats between Elephanta and Gateway, but that's mainly for tourists.

Kolkata has ferries (colloquially called launches) to connect the Kolkata bank with the Howrah bank. And they act as a feeder to the two suburban terminus stations Sealdah and Howrah respectively. So they're used by regular commuters from the suburbs.

There are also ferries to Dakshnineshwar for temple visitors and some half hearted attempts at catamarans for tourism.

But in terms of using the river as an integrated mode of transport, it ranks very very very poor. The best implementation is probably in London which turned a dirty, unsafe and neglected Thames into what it is now. That's the one that Kolkata should have emulated, considering both have similar geographical layout and were sister cities at one time. Sadly Calcutta turned its back on the Hooghly while London embraced the Thames and focused on urban regeneration.

[peterjim13]

KMRL - Water Metro recently hit 10 Lakh passenger milestone.

Even though the boats are yet to connect major transport hubs in one line - it is already seeing a huge set of patrons.

The travel is quite comfortable and you will fail to recognize whether the ferry is moving especially in the evening. One challenge is with the fact that there are no forward or rear-looking windows for passengers - quite like the Metro trains

But for regular commuters, this would actually save them some time, money & of course comfortable travel. I know a bunch of colleagues who take the Kakkanad - Vyttila metro to reach InfoPark and back.

[ramneek009]

Good to see the report here on Team-bhp.

I am one of the suppliers for the components of these boats. The project is under CSL (Cochin Shipyard Ltd) and a total of 78 boats are being built in multiple phases. By the end of the current phase, 23 boats would be completed and deployed.

Next in line are Hydrogen boats. Don't have too much information on that project besides few components that are in our scope.

Just few of the components, we are fabricating for the project :

[FueledbyFury]

Kochi water metro have begin new ferry route from Highcourt - Fort Kochi

Kochi Water metro Highcourt - Fort Kochi