MMRDA Expresses Concerns Over Monorail Safety
When all the eyes are eagerly waiting to see the first phase of Mumbai monorail becoming operational on September 15th this year after five years of construction, authorities have started expressing doubts about the monorail’s safety and reliability.
Concerns over monorail quality and safety
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) officials are taking on an offensive stance threatening the monorail developers with heavy penalties if the monorail does not start its operations on schedule or does not adhere to safety and security standards. MMRDA officials expressed serious concerns about the safety levels of the monorail for its commuters over a recent incident.
The metropolitan commissioner referred to a recent incident where a panel door fell off and almost hit a passerby. He expressed this concern in a review meeting held on August 28th where the officials from the contractors, Louis Berger Group, L&T Scomi Engineering (LTSE) and consultants and MMRDA met. He stated that the lack of safety of the system and state of affairs was absolutely unacceptable.
The Mumbai Monorail Project
The Mumbai monorail is the first monorail project in the country since 1920s taken up in an effort to expand the public transport system. The project is jointly implemented by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and LTSE, a consortium of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Scomi Engineering, a Malaysian infrastructure firm.
The project is expected to cost approximately Rs. 200 billion and will be built in two phases. The project is intended to connect south Mumbai to the western suburbs through Jacob Circle and Chembur via Wadala, and then the eastern suburbs via Thane. The first phase construction was planned to begin in 2009 and the first line between Chembur and Jacob Circle was scheduled to complete in 2011. However, due to various delays, only the stretch between Chembur and Wadala is expected to begin operations in September 2013.
MMRDA has invested Rs. 2,800 crore to develop the route. The additional metropolitan commissioner stated that it was sad to see that the trains were not fit to run despite spending a large amount. The monorail is currently undergoing commercial trial run for testing commuter interface. The trial run will provide insight and approach in handling passengers.
