Published Aug 23, 2026 | 9:38 AM ⚊ Updated Aug 23, 2026 | 9:38 AM
Loknath Behera, managing director of KMRL.
The proposed makeover from Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) to Keralam Metro Rail Limited was meant to signal a bigger role for KMRL.
Instead, it has triggered a political storm — and raised questions about the future of former State Police Chief and current KMRL managing director Loknath Behera at the helm.
Just days before his term as managing director of KMRL is due to end, Behera found himself at the centre of a controversy over the proposal to rename the company as Keralam Metro Rail Ltd. What was presented as a routine corporate makeover quickly turned into a debate over Kochi’s identity, political consultation and, inevitably, Behera’s own prospects of staying on in the post.
The timing could hardly have been more awkward.
KMRL had argued that the word ‘Kochi’ was becoming too restrictive for an organisation whose responsibilities now extend well beyond the city. Besides running the Kochi Metro and being involved in the Kochi Water Metro and electric mobility initiatives, the company is preparing Detailed Project Reports for proposed metro systems in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.
The logic was simple enough: if the company is going statewide, perhaps its name should too.
KMRL also pointed to precedents elsewhere.
Nagpur Metro became Maharashtra Metro, Lucknow Metro was transformed into Uttar Pradesh Metro and Ahmedabad Metro into Gujarat Metro when their mandates expanded.
But in Keralam, apparently, even a corporate name comes with emotional baggage.
For Kochi, ‘Kochi Metro’ is more than a transport brand.
It has become part of the city’s modern identity, making the suggestion of replacing it with ‘Keralam Metro’ look less like a bureaucratic adjustment and more like someone trying to repaint a familiar landmark.
Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden was quick to object, writing to Chief Minister VD Satheesan and arguing that KMRL could extend its expertise across Keralam without abandoning the name it had built in Kochi.
Social media took over from there, producing memes, sarcasm and even demands for Behera’s resignation.
The political heat rose further when Satheesan said the government had neither discussed nor considered the proposal, and that he himself had learnt about it through the media.
For Behera, the escape route was straightforward: it was only a proposal, he said, and the government was free to reject it.
KMRL subsequently clarified on Saturday that there was no central directive ordering states to rename metro companies.
The ‘Kochi Metro’ brand, it stressed, would remain intact.
And that brings the story to the more interesting question: Did Behera, while trying to give KMRL a statewide identity, inadvertently put a spanner in the works of his own extension? His present term ends on August 31.
There is still no official word on whether he will receive another extension, be replaced, or continue temporarily until a new arrangement is made. Behera was appointed in August 2021 and subsequently received extensions.
The latest controversy has therefore landed at precisely the wrong moment. A decision intended to prepare KMRL for its next phase has instead put its MD in the political spotlight.
There is no evidence that the name-change row will determine Behera’s fate. Nor does the government’s public displeasure automatically mean his extension is off the tracks.
But in politics, timing can be as important as destination.
For now, ‘Keralam Metro’ appears to have been sent to the sidelines. Whether Behera’s extension meets the same fate remains the intriguing question.
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(Edited by R Rajesh Kumar.)
