Mumbai: You can finally take the monorail from Chembur to Jacob Circle

After missing countless deadlines, the entire Chembur to Jacob Circle monorail route will now be accessible to the public from Monday

Mumbai: You can finally take the monorail from Chembur to Jacob Circle

The Chembur-Wadala monorail corridor was thrown open to the public in May 2011. File Pic

The monorail phase II corridor from Jacob Circle to Wadala will finally be thrown open to the public on Monday, after having missed several deadlines in the past. The onboard communication system inside the trains is, however, not yet functional, which means that authorities will use walkie-talkies like they do in the currently operational four monorail trains.

"The trail runs between Wadala and Jacob Circle have been successful and we are expecting that the footfall on the entire corridor will increase once this phase is operational," said an MMRDA official, adding that the issues with the onboard communication system "will be sorted out soon and there is nothing to worry about."

'No more delays'
The MMRDA has faced losses on the phase I corridor between Chembur and Wadala owing to the several technical glitches that the line has faced since it began operations and the low footfall given the isolated nature of the corridor.

However, authorities are confident that the opening of phase II will mean a significant rise in the ridership and thus revenue for the monorail. The MMRDA has, in its recent budget, made a provision of Rs 150 crore for the operations and maintenance of the corridor in 2019-20.

The development authority was also facing an issue with the spare parts for the monorail but that has been taken care of, thanks to the efforts of Metropolitan Commissioner R A Rajeev. The Monorail parts arrived at the Wadala Depot on February 8 from Malaysia. There will thus be no more delays in securing parts and enabled the MMRDA to refurbish more rakes. The development authority took over operations and maintenance of the Monorail from M/s Scomi Engineering BHD in December last year.

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