Kochi: Commuters who want to proceed from upcoming Kochi Metro station to near-by railway station at Ernakulam South or vice versa would be spared of the trouble of waking the distance with luggage as a walkalator similar to the one at the Chennai airport is now proposed to connect the two buildings.
"A walkalator — similar to the escalator except that it covers horizontal instead of vertical distance — will be installed along the elevated walkway from the proposed metro station to the Footoverbridge on the platform No 1 of the South railway station. Commuters thus can reach the metro station and vice versa without any difficulty," said a senior railway official.
This would be a relief to elders and women, who otherwise need to negotiate staircases on both buildings besides walking on foot nearly 300 metres, he said.
The railways had taken up with the metro authorities the need to set up a railway ticket counter at the first floor of the proposed metro station building for the convenience of the commuters.
The main metro construction on the South railway station premises have begun and the entire work would be completed in two years' time.
"A total of four pillars will be set up inside the station premise however, the main challenge is to set up the 90-metre-long balanced cantilever concrete span diagonally over the railway lines at the South station. This will be the first time the construction technology is used in plain land in the region though the same was used over the Varapuzha Bridge," the official said. The span will be constructed by S P Singla Constructions.
