Mumbai monorail delayed by an hour on first day due to technical snags

The operation of the much delayed second phase of the monorail was halted Monday on its maiden day of commercial operations due to technical glitches. The second phase of the country’s first monorail project was flagged off by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis with much aplomb Sunday.

The 11.28-km long second phase from Sant Gadge Maharaj Chowk (Jacobs Circle) to Wadala was opened for commuters Monday but the services were terminated for almost an hour owing to technical glitches. MMRDA officials blamed the delay to the innocuous floral decorations on the coaches used for its inauguration.

To remove the floral decorations the coaches were to be hauled to the depot for about 10 minutes as these flower strings got entangled in the lower portion of the train, posing obstructions to operations, they said.

However, due to the technical glitches, passengers were stranded at the Wadala depot for almost an hour. Meanwhile, MMRDA claimed the system carried over 16,000 commuters up to 5.30 pm on the first day of operations and collected over Rs 3 lakh in ticket sales.

"The monorail ran the entire corridor and attracted 16,110 commuters and collected Rs 3 lakh in revenue on day 1 up to reports last came in at 5.30 pm. The figure is pretty indicative of the possible success of the entire corridor despite Monday being a holiday (on occasion of Mahashivratri)," said the authority, which operates the transport system.

The monorail ran in all 53+4 trips, that is two trips each from Wadala to Chembur and Wadala to Sant Gadge Maharaj Chowk and 53 trips from Chembur to Sant Gadge Maharaj Chowk and back till 5.30 pm on Monday, it added.