CM Devendra Fadnavis to flag off Mumbai Monorail Phase 2 services today

Mumbai, Metro Rail News: After missing more than dozens of deadlines since December 2015, the Mumbai Monorail second phase connecting Wadala to Jacob Circle is set to begin its services at 6 pm on March 3, 2019. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will flag off the new phase of the Monorail.

CM Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister Piyush Goyal to flag off Monorail phase 2 and other railway projects/initiatives today pic.twitter.com/jH7xAD59YE

— CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) March 3, 2019

The Second Phase of Monorail increase connectivity to railway stations, Officials of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority feels that the Monorail Phase-2 may have better ridership compare to the first phase, which is from Chembur to Wadala. The new corridor of the project is expected to boost ridership on the entire Monorail corridor (Chembur-Wadala-Jacob Circle) which is built by the MMRDA at a cost of Rs 2,460 crore.

India’s first Monorail services started between Chembur and Wadala on February 2014, Although it had a good start with a daily ridership of 15,000 to 20,000 commuters, the numbers reduce steadily with the project running into losses that mounted over the years. The MMRDA had stated that the Monorail was incurring losses of Rs 6.40 lakh daily, In response to a Right To Information application filed by an activist,

CM Shri Devendra fadnavis Gifted and dedicated the second phase of Monorail to Mumbaikars. He also traveled up to Wadala after the inauguration along with Union Railway Minister Shri Piyush Goyal and other officials.

We travelled by the #MonoRail upto Wadala !
This project is of 19 km with 30 lakh travellers per month ! pic.twitter.com/W6IfBP2NXf

— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) March 3, 2019

Two coaches of the Monorail were gutted in a fire at Mysore Colony Station On November 9, 2017, leading to the closure of the first phase of monorail services between Wadala and Chembur for 10 months.

A committee was set up to investigate the matter. In a report submitted to the MMRDA in January 2018 by thee committee, found that there were irregularities in the maintenance of the project. Also, the committee suggested that before restarting Monorail services, precautionary like emergency exits must be put in place. Services of the monorail were restored in September 2018.

Monorail Phase-2 has a connectivity to all three local railway lines — Central, Western and Harbour lines — so more commuters may be attracted to the Monorail in its second phase Said A senior officer from MMRDA. MMRDA has set itself a target of achieving a ridership of 1 lakh on the entire corridor from Chembur to Jacob Circle. The second phase will have Monorail services every 20 minutes and fares will range between Rs 20 and Rs 40 for a one-way ticket.

Glimpse of Inauguration

“Currently, we have a total of seven monorail trains. The trains will run at an interval of 20 minutes. Later, we are planning to purchase 10 more trains. We have Rs 200 crore to buy five rakes, while we will raise funds for five more. We will soon float a tender for the five new rakes and procure them by the year-end, and the services will be increased.” Said Dilip Kawathkar, Deputy Metropolitan Commissioner, MMRDA.