‘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.

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.