MMRDA to buy five monorails to increase capacity, draw crowd

Assuming authority over the Monorail after terminating Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Malaysian Scomi Engineering's (LTSE) contract, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has begun the process of reworking on the service. The monorail has been shut for months now following technical glitches despite attempts to fix them and resume services.

The MMRDA plans to buy five new trains from international companies and procure spare parts for around four trains that have been lying non-functional in the Monorail depot.

The additional trains will help increase the carrying capacity of the Monorail. A mere 12,000 commuters have been using the monorail on a daily basis in the current phase; a crowd of around one lakh is expected once the second phase is made operational.

An MMRDA official said, "We have decided to go for global tendering in procuring the balance five trains, and spare parts for the remaining non-functional trains. Once, more two trains are repaired the second phase between Wadala and Jacob Circle will start its operations."

A total of ten trains were supplied by the LTSE of which only four are operational in the first phase between Wadala and Chembur. As per the contract between the MMRDA and the LTSE, who built the Monorail and were operating a total of 15 trains, one of four coaches each, were supposed to be manufactured in Malaysia, and supplied to MMRDA.

Of the 15, Scomi has already supplied ten trains. But, the remaining five were never delivered. The MMRDA now plans to buy new ones from the international market by floating global tenders. The cost of one Monorail coach is around Rs 10 crore.

The MMRDA had sent several reminders to LTSE for repairing non-functional trains. In September 2017, MMRDA had said, "Manufacture of train No 12 is in progress since last two years. It should be completed and offered for inspection immediately. Train no 2 has not been in operation at any time. This should be operative immediately. Train No 3 has not been in operation since last three years. It should be repaired. Though all routine tests are completed for Train Nos 6, 7, 10 and 11, they are not operative. They should be repaired and made operative immediately."

In a statement issued on Friday, MMRDA said, "This was one unfortunate decision MMRDA had to take and terminate the contract entered into in the year 2008. MMRDA also Gage LTSE a long rope to enable them to recover from the situation. However, LTSE failed to supply the Rolling Stock trains, failed to operate and maintain the system on the entire corridor and failed to rectify defects that resulted in inordinately delaying starting of the second phase between Wadala and Jacob Circle."

Meanwhile, the MMRDA had floated bids for a new operator for Monorail four times since 2017 but got only two bidders — IL&FS and Reliance Infrastructure, who also quoted above estimations of MMRDA that was offering Rs 1,000 crore to operate Monorail for 10 years.

However, last month the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also heads the MMRDA, approved the formation of Mumbai Metro Operation Corporation Limited (MMOCL) that will operate all upcoming Metro corridors in Mumbai Metropolitan Region along with Monorail.

A Long And Bumpy Ride

The service from Wadala to Jacob circle has seen six glitches since its launch

How The Monorail’s Journey Has Spanned So Far

•  2008: The construction of Monorail begins after MMRDA appointed Malaysia-based Scomi Engineering
•  2011: The Mumbai Monorail project was to be ready by 2011, but fails to meet the deadline
•  2014: The first phase between Chembur and Wadala made operational
•  2015: The Comptroller Auditor and General of India (CAG) point out fallacies in the project
•  2015: A rake was stuck mid-section near Bhakti Park, Wadala. Commuters rescued later
•  2016: Services disrupted due to tyre bursts and tyre falling of the rolling stock, doors opened midway
•  July 2017: Monorail halted halfway into Chembur station due to power-failure
•  November 2017: Monorail phase-1 services suspended due to a coach catching fire
•  September 01 2018: Monorail phase-1 services restarted after a period of ten months post suspension 
•  September 02, 2018: Services disrupted for almost three hours as passengers stranded in a Chembur-bound Monorail that entangled with cable wire
•  September 05, 2018: AC in a coach develops snag 
•  December 14, 2018: MMRDA issues termination notice to LTSE and takes over operations