India's first monorail tested in Mumbai

Phase-I of the project to be completed by November

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) on Saturday conducted an electrical trial run of the Mumbai monorail, from Wadala to Mysore Colony — a distance of 4.5 km. The first phase of the project, from Wadala to Chembur, is expected to be completed by November 2012. The project is being implemented by MMRDA, with Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and a consortium of Malaysian infrastructure Scomi Engineering.

Dilip Kawathkar, joint project director (PR), MMRDA, said: “This is one of the electrical trial runs that we conducted on Saturday. Phase-I of the monorail is expected to be completed by late October or November this year.”

The project that would connect Wadala to Chembur (8.26 km) in Phase-I and Jacob Circle to Wadala (11.28 km) in Phase-II, will reduce travel time between the two localities from 90 minutes to 44 minutes. The tentative fare structure on the stretch, according to MMRDA, will range from Rs 8 to Rs 20.

The project scope will involve design, construction, operation and maintenance (for three years) of the monorail system between Jacob Circle and Chembur. It is being done under an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract.

The 19.56-km corridor will cost around Rs 2,460 crore (plus taxes) for the two phases. The second phase is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2013. The civil work on the line in Phase-I is likely to end by August and the trial runs could begin thereafter.