MMRDA hopes upcoming Metro lines will raise monorail ridership to 1.5 lakh daily

The MMRDA believes the Metro corridor will bring more ridership to the monorail. With seven rakes in operation and one more added very soon. SVR Srinivas, MMRDA Commissioner said, “We have put the old retrofitted rake on trial run. It will continue for another 4-5 days and thereafter, it will be added into the fleet.”

With this one additional rake, MMRDA expects the daily ridership to rise to 25,000 daily , further increasing the number of trips from 114 to 142 per day.

The Mumbai Monorail is also looking at ways to improve its services through new technology, like building a moving walkway ‘travelator’ at Jacob circle station to link the monorail and Metro line with the suburban railway line. The MMRDA has also given a work order to manufacture 10 new rakes to increase frequency and number of trips to cater to the expected increase in ridership demand of more than 1.5 lakh daily in the next two years.

The Mumbai Monorail was commissioned in 2014 on a short 8.9-km stretch between Wadala and Chembur and later in March 2019, the Phase 2 of the monorail between Sant Ghadge Maharaj (SGM) Chowk to Wadala was commissioned.

While the monorail has the capacity to carry 2 lakh passengers every day, it failed to get ridership. The project had been plagued with several issues over the years and was not operational for nearly a year after a fire gutted two coaches in November 2017.

From SGM Chowk to Chembur, the entire monorail is 19.54-km-long and the ticket price is between Rs 10 and Rs 40, depending on the distance travelled.