Mumbai monorail's second phase to take off by December

The second phase of India's first monorail network , Mumbai monorail, will take off by December 2015.

The 11.2-km Wadala to Jacob Circle route will pass through busy Mumbai areas like Antop Hill and GTB Nagar and will stop at 11 stations. The 8.8-km first-phase Chembur to Wadala route was inaugurated in February 2014. The project is almost two years behind schedule, mainly due to land acquisition issues and clearances.

"We have cleared the last of bottlenecks, including a railway bridge crossing near Curry Road and the alignment was reworked seven times due to land issues. With the clearances in place, we are sure to commission the second phase this year", said Kanesan Veluppillai, CEO of Malaysia-based engineering company Scomi .

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), with a consortium of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Scomi Engineering, is implementing the monorail system in Mumbai.  

Commenting on the performance of the first phase, Veluppillai said the monorail has an average daily ridership of 13,752 customers (between February and October 2014) and an average daily fare box collection of Rs 1,18,597.

Three trains are operational (additional two standby trains and one under maintenance) for 16 hours from 6 am to 10 pm. Until August 2014, the trains were operating only for eight hours.

So far, average service reliability is 97 per cent and monthly capacity utilisation, which indicates service comfort, is about 90 per cent, claimed Veluppillai.

Sources said poor response for Mumbai Monorail's first phase is mainly because of connectivity issues, as the line does not touch any of the busy nodes in the city.

"That is projected to change and the footfalls are expected to be over two lakh commuters a day, once the second phase takes off", said Tan Boon Hoe, Chief Operating Officer - Operations and Maintenance for Scomi in Mumbai.

The proposed 135-km Mumbai monorail network envisages four more lines, from Thane to Bhiwandi, Malabar Hill to Bandra Kurla, Lokhandwala Complex to Kanjurmarg, and Chembur to Govandi.