If all goes as planned, India’s first-ever monorail will begin operations in Mumbai by September this year.
The Mumbai Metropo-litan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), which is the nodal agency for the project, is making all efforts to meet its scheduled deadline, and the pre-operation planning is also gathering momentum. The construction of all the seven stations falling between the first leg of operation has also been completed.
Currently, L&T and a Malaysian infrastructure firm Scomi Engineering are gearing up to test electrical functions of the monorail with trial runs between GTB Nagar Monorail Station to Wadala Monorail Station and Wadala Depot.
The conductor rails fitted on the monorail concrete beams between GTB Nagar Monorail Station to Wadala Monorail Station and Wadala Depot were energised on Wednesday with 750-volt direct current (DC). Accordingly, the MMRDA has alerted and requested all passersby to avoid being in the proximity of these tests.
“These tests are a process toward securing safety certificate for the commissioning of the monorail. Other tests for signalling, communication, rolling stocks and auto fare collection are also being conducted. The MMRDA is consulting Singapore’s SMRT,” said Dilip Kawathkar, joint project director (PR), MMRDA.
He also added that 90 per cent of civil work and construction work have been completed. He claimed that the work is expected to be completed in the next two months. However, experts are doubtful that the monorail will be operational this year.
Jitendra Gupta, a transport expert said, “Since this is the first monorail, teething problems are inevitable. Since MMRDA has appointed a foreign company to certify longer monorail routes, MM-RDA’s plans to open the monorail might be affected. ”
SMRT will issue the safety certificate for the monorail service as Commi-ssioner of Railway Safety (CRS), WR expressed its inability to do the same, Mr Kawathkar claimed.
When contacted Padam Singh Baghel, CRS-WR said, “Yes, we were approached by MMRDA, but since we are not equipped to handle such operations we turned it down.”