‘Time-saver’: Mumbai’s Monorail back on tracks after 10 months

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) started operations with four trains, with one on standby.

The 8.9-km Chembur-Wadala Monorail corridor, which was restarted on Saturday, saw a steady stream of commuters in the first few hours.

The Monorail services, which took off on Chembur-Wadala route, will run between 6am and 10pm daily. (Kunal Patil/HT Photo)

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) started operations with four trains, with one on standby.

This comes 10 months after the services were suspended following a fire incident in November 2017.

For 45-year-old Thomas Sushil, who moved to Mumbai two months ago, the restarting of the Monorail services has proved to be a time-saver, after he took his first ride from Bharat Petroleum station to Chembur. “I just moved to Mumbai from Chennai. Earlier, I used to avail an app-based cab service to travel between Chembur and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) officers’ quarters where I live. The Monorail is a good service and quicker than travelling by road,” Sushil said.

Kiran Bhonsale, a teacher in a civic-run school, said she faced a lot of difficulties after the services were suspended last year. “My school is near Mysore Colony station and I used to take the Monorail to travel to Chembur and then take a Harbour Line train to Navi Mumbai. After it was suspended, I had to take the bus which took a lot of time. Now it will save me 45 minutes,” she said.

Another daily Monorail commuter, Ram Vilas also had the same view. “I travel between Bhakti Park station and RCF Station for work. I used to take the bus, but owing to traffic jam, it used to take a lot of time. Now this will save me time and it is a comfortable air-conditioned travel,” said Vilas, who works as a carpenter.

The services on the corridor run from 6am to 10pm daily, with a frequency of 15 minutes. The fares on the stretch are between ₹5, ₹7, ₹9 and ₹11, although revised fares have been approved.

The revised fares, which are expected to be implemented once the Wadala-Jacob Circle phase 2 of the Monorail starts, are divided in four slabs—₹10, ₹20, ₹30 and ₹40.