presence of a few cracks on the Venduruthy Railway bridge connecting the mainland with the Willingdon island, the service to this station was temporarily suspended. Work on a new railway line has commenced and the station will be reopened soon. Edapally Railway Station is a smaller halt station for passenger services and a few express trains. The major stations at Aluva and Thripunithura and the halting station at Kalamassery, serves the outskirts of the city and the surrounding metropolitan area. There is a historic station named as Ernakulam Terminus (station code ERG) situated behind the High Court. Great personalities like Mahatma Gandhi and The Viceroy have visited Cochin through this old majestic railway station. Ernakulam Terminus was the first station to serve the city but had to be abandoned in the early 60's. Now, Southern Railway plans to renovate the station into the central station for the city and for proposed suburban railway system, because the pressure on the Ernakulam Junction railway station has been increasing. In addition, the Southern Railway is set to start a suburban railway system in Ernakulam, connecting nearby towns and cities by introducing MEMU services. The first MEMU line between Ernakulam and Kollam was opened in 2012 and a second one between Ernakulam and Palakkad was started in 2013 Other MEMU lines under consideration include Thrissur-Ernakulam and Ernakulam-Kottayam corridors for which work is underway. Kochi Metro Rail A rapid transit system, intended to considerably ease congestion was opened to public on 17 June 2017 by Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India. At present, 21 stations from Aluva to Thaikoodam are active. The first phase will serve a distance of 28 km with a total of 25 stations. The first phase is being set up at an estimated cost of INR5181 crore (US$790 million). Recently, KMRL (Kochi Metro Rail Limited) has decided to extend the project to Tripunithura in the first phase itself. DMRC has started with the preliminary works such as widening of roads. It has also been decided that DMRC will build an INR135 crore (US$21 million) flyover at Edappally to ease the traffic congestion. In phase I, an elevated route is proposed, spanning 25 km from Aluva to Petta with 22 stations. The 11.2-km Phase-II will be from Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium at Kaloor to Infopark via Kakkanad at an estimated cost of Rs.2,017.46 crore. Distance from Kochi to major cities/towns & tourist