Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a two-day visit to Kerala, flagged off the state’s first Vande Bharat train between Thiruvananthapuram and Kasaragod at 11:10 am on Tuesday from Thiruvananthapuram Central Station. He then went to Kochi and inaugurated the country’s first water metro on Tuesday.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the train will cover 11 districts namely Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Pathanamthitta, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod.
The Kochi Water Metro project is one of the projects to provide safe, affordable and pocket-friendly travel to the people of Kochi and its surrounding areas, as well as promote tourism. In the first phase, the water metro will start plying with eight electric-hybrid boats on two routes; High Court v. Vybin and Vytyla v. Kakkanad. Single journey ticket fare on High Court to Vipin route is fixed at Rs.20.Vytila to Kakkanadu route is fixed at Rs.30.
VIDEO | Visuals of PM Modi flagging off Kerala’s first Vande Bharat Express train from Thiruvananthapuram Central Railway station today. Hundreds of people also gathered on the opposite side platform to see the PM flag off the train. pic.twitter.com/RvmaWXyGAd
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) April 25, 2023
The Prime Minister was accorded a rousing welcome when he arrived in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday morning. Then left for Central Railway Station.
Before flagging off Vande Bharat Express from platform 1 of the railway station, he interacted with school children inside a compartment of the train.
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also interacted with the students inside the train along with the Prime Minister.
“Kerala is a state of conscious and educated people. The hard work and humility of the people here is part of their identity,” PM Modi said in Thiruvananthapuram.
The children displayed paintings and drawings of Modi and the Vande Bharat train they created.Hundreds of people gathered on the opposite platform to witness the flag off of the train by the Prime Minister.
The Vande Bharat Express is being touted by many as a replacement for the Silver Line, the LDF government’s ambitious semi-high-speed rail line connecting the state capital with Kerala’s northern Kasaragod district.
The Prime Minister, who left Kochi in the morning, was accorded a warm welcome by BJP leaders and workers when he arrived at Thiruvananthapuram Airport.
As the Prime Minister traveled from the airport to the railway station, the entire state capital was under heavy security net, with hundreds of policemen and strict traffic restrictions.
His nearly six-kilometer drive from the airport to the railway station resembled a road scene with the Prime Minister standing on the footboard of his vehicle, waving to people on the roadside as he showered them with flowers.
After flagging off the train, he is set to inaugurate several development projects, including the Kochi Water Metro service, at the Kerala Central Stadium here.
At a ceremony at the Central Stadium, Nati will lay the foundation stone for various projects such as the electrified Dindigul-Palani-Palakkad section, the country’s first digital science park.
