Monorail corridor: MMRDA faces rakes crisis as it prepares to start service from April

Even as the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) prepares to start services for the entire monorail corridor from April, it continues to be plagued by shortage of rakes. The MMRDA needs five more rakes to operate the 20.21-km corridor. “Five more rakes have to be delivered from Malaysia but they have not been manufactured yet. They wanted an advance payment for the delivery but we have decided against it. They now have to submit a plan regarding when they can deliver the rakes,” said Sanjay Khandare, MMRDA additional metropolitan commissioner.

The five new rakes will have a modified design with some new components. “We have approved the new design,” he added. After service on the Chembur-Wadala line was disrupted following a fire in two coaches in November 2017, the MMRDA proposes to resume it along with the launch of the Wadala-Jacob Circle corridor next month. While it proposes to begin with seven rakes, even those are not ready currently. We have six rakes but certain parts, like the handles are missing. They are not crucial parts and operations can begin without them. The seventh rake should be coming in four to five weeks,” said Khandare.

According to transport experts, the rakes will be insufficient to run services at regular frequency during peak hours. “Ideally, the monorail should run at a frequency of three to four minutes during peak hours and around eight minutes at other times. But with only seven rakes, it will be barely sufficient to run the non-peak services. If commuters have to wait for so long, they will prefer other modes of transport. Safety of commuters is also in question. This shows lack of confidence on the part of the MMRDA in their infrastructure, on which they have spent a lot of public money,” said Rishi Aggarwal, a city-based transport expert. The MMRDA has made a fourth call for bids for operation and maintenance. “Once operation starts, the current contractors (L&T-Scomi Engineering) will continue to operate till a new operator comes in. That should be three-four months from now,” Khandare added.

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