Thiruvananthapuram: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday flagged off Kerala’s first Vande Bharat train from Thiruvananthapuram.

Soon after the inauguration, the train was run only for invitees. The first commercial service will start from Kasargod on Wednesday and will reach here in 7 hours and 50 minutes. The first service from here to Kasargod will begin on Thursday.

While the regular commercial service will have stops at Kollam, Kottayam, Thrissur, Shornur, Kozhikode and Kannur and terminating at Kasargod, the inaugural special train flagged by Modi will stop at more stations.

PM Modi, who arrived at Kochi on Monday evening, reached the Thiruvananthapuram railway station this morning.

After briefly interacting with a group of schoolchildren, who were given the opportunity to travel on the inaugural run, the PM got down and flagged off the train.

The train has 16 coaches of which two are executive with 104 seats.

Present along with Modi during the flagging off were Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and local MP Shashi Tharoor, among others.

First water metro inaugurated

Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday inaugurated India’s first Water Metro that connects 10 islands around Kochi through battery-operated electric hybrid boats for seamless connectivity with the city.

Kochi Water Metro, one of its kind project in the world connecting Kochi’s islands to the mainland is ready to start the service.

The country’s first Water Metro service will provide safe, affordable and pocket-friendly travel for people in and around Kochi and also tourists from across the world.

“It’s a different boat. Being an electric boat for the first time in India, we have many challenges. But we have received training at Indian Maritime University. It will undertake 12 trips per boat during peak time. It takes 20 minutes from one terminal to another. We can carry 96 passengers and 4 crew members,” Jayes, boat master said.

Initially, Water Metro will start sailing with 8 electric-hybrid boats on two routes - Highcourt- Vypin and Vyttila- Kakkanad stretches.

The single journey ticket fare for the High Court - Vypin route will be Rs 20. The fare for Vyttila- Kakkanad route will be Rs 30.

Other than the single-journey tickets, Kochi Water Metro will also have weekly, monthly and quarterly passes. As an inaugural offer, commuters can enjoy discounts for their purchase of various trip passes.

A weekly pass with 12 trips is priced at Rs 180 while the monthly passes valid for 30 days having 50 trips would cost Rs 600.

PM launches projects worth Rs 32 billion in Kerala

Prime Minister Modi on Tuesday launched a slew of projects worth Rs 32 billion in the capital city of Kerala.

He inaugurated the projects at the Central Stadium here, soon after flagging off the first Vande Bharat train in the state.

The projects launched included the foundation stone for country’s first digital science park and the Water Metro at Kochi, revamp of three major railway stations, electrification of the Palakkad-Dindigul railway line and a few other developments to railway facilities in the state.

Prime Minister Modi appreciated the developments that Kerala is making in various sectors and said all what happens in the state will speed up the developments in the country.

“The Kochi Water Metro is one which was built under the Make in India programme and congratulated the Cochin Shipyard Limited for building it and this is going to be a model for the rest of the country and I am very happy for it,” said Modi.

He also said Kerala has been getting a huge increase in the allocation for railway development compared to the previous years.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan thanked Modi for favourably considering various projects for the state and for taking part in it.

After the event, Modi drove to the Thiruvananthapuram airport from where he left for Surat on a special IAF aircraft, ending his two-day visit to the state.