‘35 train captains needed on the Chembur-Wadala route’

During the trial run on Saturday, there was growing curiosity about the train captain (motorman), who drove the monorail from Wadala Depot to Chembur and back. HT reports.

During the trial run on Saturday, there was growing curiosity about the train captain (motorman), who drove the monorail from Wadala Depot to Chembur and back.

HT Image

The train captain of the monorail, Paul Raju, later said that driving the monorail was ‘no rocket science’.

Raju, who has come from Malaysia, is training new motormen to be employed on the Chembur-Wadala route, which is expected to be started in August this year.

“Anyone holding an engineering diploma can be trained to be a train captain. One has to undergo two-and-a-half months of training with a 100-hour monorail driving experience to become a train captain,” said Raju.

“We need around 35 train captains on the Chembur-Wadala route. We have trained two train captains so far, while two others are undergoing training.”

A Ponndurai, who had operated the monorail trial on its first trial run in Mumbai on 26 January, 2010, said he feels proud to be the first person to operate the country’s first monorail.

“When the first consignment of monorail parts came, it took us 20 days to assemble the four-car rake.

"After a lot of hard work, we were successful in carrying out a trial of the monorail for the first time. I am happy that I was the first person to operate monorail in India,” said Ponndurai.