Monorail Phase 2 may open early next year: MMRDA

Since the appointed agency is facing a financial crisis, the authority plans to directly purchase the rakes. Shortage of functional rakes is delaying the start of the new service, despite safety clearances being in place

The Maharashtra Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) expects to open the much-delayed Mumbai Monorail Phase 2 (Wadala to Jacob Circle) by early next year, said R A Rajeev, Metropolitan Commissioner of MMRDA. He said, "There are certain issues with the Phase-1 appointed agency, Scomi Engineering, but we hope to resolve these." When asked if the authority is mulling plans to operate the service itself, since the appointed agency is facing financial problems, he said, "Nothing is impossible for MMRDA. If we set out to do so, we can," but would speak no further on the subject.

Another official said, since Scomi is facing a financial crisis, the MMRDA is planning to directly purchase the rakes. "The decision has been taken in a bid to start Phase-2 operations, which are running well behind the deadline. The MMRDA will recover its expenses from Scomi after directly purchasing rakes from another manufacturer," asserted the official.

Shortage of functional rakes is the reason for the delay in Phase 2 services, despite the required safety clearances being in place. Of the total 10 rakes, only four are functional and of these too, only three are operational, with one on standby for emergencies. These three rakes are currently able to provide services at a frequency of 15 minutes. However, in order for the second phase to become operational, at least seven trains should be functional, according to MMRDA.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has reportedly given a nod to the MMRDA to form its own agency to operate and maintain monorail and upcoming metro corridors. The MMRDA's additional commissioners also recently visited Singapore and Hong Kong to study public transport operations there. An MMRDA source said, "Since MMRDA expects to open metro 2A (Dahisar to DN Nagar) and metro 7 (Andheri East to Dahisar East) corridors by next year, and with more metro projects in the pipeline, the authority decided to have its own agency, which will also look after the financially hit monorail."

MMRDA expects ridership to go up once Phase 2 is operational, as it passes through densely populated localities of the city. At present, only the 8.9km Phase-1 monorail between Wadala and Chembur is operational. The ambitious MMRDA project was built at a cost of Rs 1,100 crore and was expected to carry at least 1.5 lakh commuters a day. But there are not many takers and its average daily ridership continues to remain at 19,000 in three years of operation. The service is currently incurring a loss of nearly Rs 3 lakh a day, according to the response to a query under the Right to Information Act (RTI).