Mumbai monorail rake derails during trial run in Wadala; none injured, says MMMOCL

The impact caused one of the coaches to fall off the beam, severely damaging the rake’s undercarriage. The train’s alignment also suffered significant damage in the crash. Following this, emergency teams from the Mumbai Fire Brigade and the Mumbai police were dispatched to the site immediately.

Chandrakant Kakade, president of the Monorail Workers’ Association, said the accident is believed to have been caused by a glitch in the switch used to shift tracks. “This was a testing train. It was good that there were no passengers, otherwise it could have resulted in a big accident,” he said.

The city’s only monorail system has remained non-operational since September, following persistent technical glitches and repeated service disruptions during the monsoon. In August, a train stalled between stations during heavy rain, leaving 582 passengers stranded for nearly four hours, while another breakdown in September left 17 passengers stranded near Wadala.

Following this, the MMRDA suspended services from September 20 to undertake a major overhaul, including the integration of new rolling stock, an upgrade to an advanced Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) signalling system to improve safety, and refurbishment of the ageing fleet.

The Mumbai Monorail is a straddle-beam monorail transit system that currently covers a 20-km corridor from Chembur to Wadala and Sant Gadge Maharaj Chowk. Its operations and maintenance are currently overseen by the Maha Mumbai Metro Operation Corporation Limited (MMMOCL), a subsidiary of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).

The first phase between Wadala and Chembur opened in 2014, while the second phase, extending to Sant Gadge Maharaj Chowk, began operations on March 4, 2019. It remains India’s only operational monorail network even as ridership has remained far below projections.