Mumbai Monorail to resume service next month

Mumbai Monorail (File)

The monorail service between Chembur and Wadala will resume next month, almost a year after being suspended due to a fire in two coaches. “We have decided to resume services of the 8.9-km Chembur-Wadala corridor from September 1,” said Dilip Kawathkar, joint director (projects), Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).

The MMRDA said commuters will not be charged revised fares, and passengers will be able to to travel on the corridor on the original fares of Rs 5-11. “The fares will not be revised until the entire corridor from Chembur to Jacob Circle is operational. When the services resume, the existing fare structure will still be applicable,” he said.

Due to a shortage of rakes, the Phase II connecting Wadala to Jacob Circle is slated to open January next year. “We propose to operationalise it by January-February 2019,” Kawathkar said.

After the monorail services were suspended on November 9 last year, the MMRDA had planned to resume them at the same time as the launch of Phase II. But the contractors will provide additional rakes only by February, which has delayed the opening of Phase II. The MMRDA has 10 rakes of which only seven are operational. The contractors are expected to deliver five more rakes apart from repairing and refurbishing the existing ones.

On November 9, 2017, two coaches of the monorail were gutted in a fire at Mysore Colony Station. Since the fire occurred before the service hours, there were no casualties, but it revealed several inconsistencies in its operation. The preliminary report filed by the investigation committee revealed that the train that caught fire was running without a valid fitness certificate. Before giving its consent to begin operations, the state government had sought a response from the MMRDA on its safety compliance in June.