Monorail: Accident,rains delay partial trial run

Last month,a beam weighing 60 tonnes collapsed at the monorail construction site on RCF Road in Chembur killing two persons and injuring three.

The MMRDA had earlier scheduled the trial run on August 15 and had said it would go ahead with the plan despite the accident.

The monsoon had slowed the pace of construction work as excavation-related work could not be undertaken. Besides,the bad state of roads made transportation of beams difficult,said Ashwini Bhide,additional metropolitan commissioner.

However,the MMRDA aims to complete the construction of the first phase of the monorail project,stretching from Chembur to Wadala,and start pilot runs on the entire route by May next year,she added.

“About 60-70 percent of the work on the route has already completed,” Bhide said. “By this December,we are aiming to complete the civil structure and should start trial runs between March and May next year,but there are a lot of riders to it.”

The foundation stage of the route has been completed and beams are being launched,she added.

The first phase of the monorail route,an 8.26-kilometre long track part of the Jacob Circle-Wadala-Chembur route,was originally scheduled to be completed by December 2010.