MMRDA to L&T: Insulate all wires along Monorail corridor

After the Mumbai Monorail services came to a standstill for 10 hours on July 20-21, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has asked Larsen & Toubro (L&T) to improve insulation of the wires to ensure that the services remain on track.

Speaking about the corrective measures from the incident, a senior development authority official explained that L&T, who is the civil construction contractor for the Monorail project, has been informed to insulate the underground cables and related wires.

The additional layer of insulation will greatly help in avoiding a repeat of such an eventuality. This may also mean that the footpaths and roads will be dug up during the monsoon.

The July 20 incident occurred due to an underground cable at Fertiliser Township Monorail Station tripping and eventually getting burned. This had a serious repercussion on the Monorail services.

"We suspect that the cable had been damaged due to pavement work that was being carried out at the time. Perhaps, the work done by the civic body resulted in our Monorail services getting affected," said an official.

MMRDA authorities intend to penalise the firm responsible for the upkeep of the electrical systems, however, the penalty amount will be decided in a month's time.

Within the first six months of Mumbai Monorail's inauguration, there have been several incidents of technical faults resulting in safety-related issues, including opening of one of the doors of a rake. The Monorail operator chose to ply the service with an open door with commuters inside. This happened on May 23. The first phase of the Monorail was inaugurated by CM Prithviraj Chavan on February 1.