Voltage fluctuation slows down monorail

Its been a year since the Mumbai Monorail has been troubled with the voltage fluctuation problem and till date, the rectification work has not been completed. This fluctuation results in loss of traction along the 8.93 km monorail corridor between Wadala depot and Chembur, and can also result in reducing life span of the rakes.

According to sources, the power fluctuation issue is faced almost daily at two locations- the curve between Wadala Depot - Bhakti Park stations and at the crossing of Mahul Creek.

Due to this wavering power, the direct current voltage at times come down from 750 volts to 500 volts and at times to 200 volts.

In fact, during the inspections carried out by SMRT in November, the agency that was appointed for safety assessment of monorail, it had mentioned in its report 'Recommendations on Readiness to Commence Revenue Service' that if the voltage fluctuation issue is not addressed immediately and recur frequently during revenue service, it is likely to "impact on the life cycle of the related component resulting in reduction in life span causing earlier replacement, which could be costly. An example is frequent tripping of traction motors due to voltage fluctuation."

It was recommended to resolve the problem by November 30, 2013, but till date it has not been addressed to. In fact, the air-conditioning system stops functioning at times due to voltage fluctuation.
"Work is under way on sub-stations, transformers to address to the fluctuations. Soon the problems related to voltage fluctuations will not happen," said UPS Madan, metropolitan commissioner, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority.