Why in news? Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first phase of the Kochi Water Metro — a first of its kind public boat service in India integrated with a metro rail network.

What is the Kochi Water Metro?

• It is a project being implemented by Kochi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (KMRL) with the assistance of a German funding agency, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau.
• It includes boats that are hybrid, battery-powered, air-conditioned and disabled-friendly among other features.
• The water metro will operate on water bodies like any other ferry or traditional boat service, but with modern facilities, enhanced safety and security measures.
• The Kochi Water Metro project envisages the development of 15 identified routes, connecting 10 islands along a network of routes that span 78 km.
• This will be achieved through a fleet of 78 fast hybrid ferries plying to 38 jetties.
• Boats planned for the project are electrically propelled. However, they have the backup of diesel-powered generators.
• It is expected to reduce pollution and traffic congestions in the city and also ease access to business areas on the mainland for urban household situated along the Kochi lakeshore.
• It is also expected to give a big boost to the tourism sector in the Kochi backwaters, apart from giving a modern transport facility for people living on islands on the outskirts of Kochi.

How is the water metro linked to the metro rail?

• Kochi Water metro has been envisaged as a feeder service of the Kochi metro rail, which has been operational since 2017. While boats have been designed as coaches of Kochi Metro, boat terminals, passenger entry and exit gates, ticket counters and safety measures mirror the features of the metro rail service.