Mumbai: Hop on to monorail from Sunday

The much-awaited Mumbai Monorail will be commissioned by Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Saturday at Gandhi Maidan, Chembur. The new mass-transit system, first of its kind in India, will be thrown open to the public the next day from both Wadala and Chembur.

Earlier, the government had planned to get the project inaugurated by the prime minister or a top union minister, but their unavailability kept delaying the programme. With Lok Sabha elections round the corner, there was no way the state could have waited any longer.

The first phase of 8.93-km monorail will run between Wadala and Chembur. “The inauguration ceremony will be held on Saturday and on February 2 the first train for public will be operated,” announced Metropolitan Commissioner UPS Madan.

Authorities plan to run the four-coach transportation system at a frequency of 15 minutes between 7am and 3pm on all days of the week. “After a month, we will increase its operational hours and, if needed, even the frequency,” said Ashwini Bhide, additional metropolitan commissioner, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority.

Built at a cost of around Rs1,100 crore, the corridor between Wadala and Chembur has seven stations. The second phase between Wadala and Jacob Circle is scheduled for completion in mid-2015. The total cost of the entire 19.17-km Chembur-Wadala-Jacob Circle route is close to Rs 3,000 crore.

Wadala has been made as the heart of the operations with the main control center as well as the car depot for maintenance. The facility is spread over 16 acres with a provision to have 21 trains. The depot even has a power station, receiving traction substation, administrative facility and training centre.