Two companies bid for Mumbai Monorail operations

After four rounds of bidding in the past one year, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has finally managed to get two companies' bids for the operation and maintenance of Chembur-Jacob Circle Monorail. Two companies, of which one is Reliance Infrastructure, have submitted bids for operating Mumbai Monorail, sources from the MMRDA confirmed.

UPS Madan, Metropolitan Commissioner, MMRDA, said, "Two companies seem to have submitted their bids." However, the names of the bidders were not officially announced by MMRDA on Tuesday.

However, sources from MMRDA said that Reliance Infrastructure and IL&FS have submitted their bids for the operations of Monorail. Along with these two, other companies like Adani Group, Singapore based SMRT Corporation and current operator Malaysian based Scomi Engineering had also shown interest in the operation of Monorail.

The Monorail corridor has been shut since November 2017, and has been in the news since 2014 owing to technical glitches. The first phase of Monorail between Chembur and Wadala was made operational in 2014 but was temporarily suspended in November 2017 due to an empty coach catching fire. However, currently, trial runs for the second phase between Wadala and Jacob Circle of the Monorail are being conducted, and hence the MMRDA plans to appoint a operator for the whole corridor measuring around 19-km.