Monorail makes partial trial run

“With the completion of the track to Bhakti Park and Mysore Colony,we are fully ready to the route and gradually work towards commissioning,” Kanesan Veluppillai,country president of Scomi India said. A consortium of Larsen & Toubro and Malaysia’s Scomi Engineering is constructing the Monorail corridor.

Late last month,the consortium had started the electric testing of the Monorail between Wadala and Mysore Colony,and has been conducting short trials since then. The monorail will run on a 750-volt direct current and will use a regenerative breaking system,which creates energy efficiency. A regenerative breaking system,as against the traditional breaking system,slows down the rake converting its kinetic energy to electricity instead of letting it go waste.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) expects to complete the civil work by August after which it will conduct full trial runs to work towards commissioning the line by the end of this year.

The civil work on the first phase of the Monorail route,from Chembur to Wadala,is nearing completion with casting of about 80 per cent guideway beams,on which the rake runs,completed.

The 8.3-km corridor will have seven stations – Chembur,V N Purav Marg,Fertiliser Colony,Bharat Petroleum,Mysore Colony,Bhakti Park and Wadala Depot. Of the seven stations,on this phase,the Bhakti Park station is nearly ready,while construction of platforms is under way at other stations.

The MMRDA had conducted an exhibition run of the Monorail on January 26,2010 for about 500 metres,but without the entire rolling stock and electric supply systems in place.