Mono operator faces fine for scrapped Sunday trips

MUMBAI: Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) will penalize monorail operator Larsen & Toubro-Scomi Engineering (LTSE) for Sunday's technical glitch in a rake which led to suspension of a few services. Monorail services were resumed between Wadala Depot and Chembur on Saturday after a break of 10 months.
MMRDA's joint project director (public relations) Dilip Kawathkar said, "We will carry out an inquiry to ascertain whether poor maintenance was the cause of the snag. Based on the findings, we will impose a penalty."

An official said, "Based on the number of trips that were cancelled, we will deduct the amount. The number of trips lost will be evaluated in a few days." MMRDA has increased the amount paid to monorail operators for each trip from Rs 4,600 to Rs 10,600.

Monorail, which commenced operations on February 1, 2014, was plagued by numerous snags and was stopped last November after a fire gutted two coaches of a rake.

At present, only three rakes are operational and on Sunday, one of the three had to be pulled out of service due to a technical snag in the Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system that led to application of emergency brakes at VN Purav Marg station. ATP is a device that helps a train motorman prevent collisions or follow a signal or speed restrictions. Around 60 passengers were aboard but as the problem did not affect the train run, no emergency evacuation was carried out.

In the past too, MMRDA has imposed similar penalties on the operator. A fine of Rs 7.5 lakh per day was slapped on the consortium for not completing work on commissioning the second phase between Wadala and Jacob Circle.

Services run between Wadala and Chembur and begin at 6am. With a 15-minute frequency, the three rakes make 130 trips a day. The last one departs from Wadala at 9.53pm and Chembur at 10.08pm.