Monorail joyride begins for Mumbaikars, nearly 20,000 take ride on Day 1

The first day of commercial operations of India’s first monorail, from Wadala to Chembur, saw an unprecedented response from Mumbaikars. As per figures given by MMRDA, 19,678 commuters took the monorail Sunday. The first train left Wadala station at 7.08 am and a total of 61 trips were made. (IE Photo: Ganesh Shirsekar)

Although the monorail was scheduled to operate between 7 am and 3 pm Sunday, the operations continued till 4.30 pm as monorail staffers struggled to clear the rush and honour the ticket tokens that had been issued. (IE Photo: Ganesh Shirsekar)

A little after 1.30 pm, however, monorail staffers informed the crowd outside the station that they were shutting the station soon and that more tickets would not be issued so that they could clear the passengers who were already inside the station and had purchased tickets. (IE Photo: Ganesh Shirsekar)

“I waited for two hours in a queue because my son, Hrushil, was excited about the idea of sitting inside the monorail. We will come again next Sunday. Hopefully it won’t be too crowded then,” said Vinod Pawar, father of the eight-year-old, who had to go back dejected. (IE Photo: Ganesh Shirsekar)

Many like Pawar had come with their families and children in tow as a ‘day-out’ to ride the monorail. And several had to go back home disappointed as the MMRDA closed entry to all stations between 1.30 pm and 2.30 pm owing to the unprecedented response. (IE Photo: Ganesh Shirsekar)

MMRDA spokesperson Dilip Kawathkar said, “Although stations were closed, those who were standing in queue at the ticket counters in the station area were issued tokens for traveling and as per schedule, the train operations closed at 3 pm. An announcement to this effect was made at all monorail stations.” (IE Photo: Ganesh Shirsekar)

The blue, pink and green monorail trains, which can carry 562 passengers, were running almost at their full capacity as the day progressed. With the crowd being thick right since monorail started operations Sunday, the staffers were unable to maintain the 15-minute frequency of operations. Trains were running with an interval of around 30 minutes as it was taking longer than expected to clear the alighting passengers from the platforms and stations. (IE Photo: Ganesh Shirsekar)

“It was sad that our services couldn’t cater to all those who wanted a ride. The frequency did dip because often the train would be overloaded and we had to ask a few people to get down. People were so excited that no one wanted to alight. As a result, the train would stop at every station for much longer than expected,” said a monorail official. (IE Photo: Ganesh Shirsekar)

“I boarded the train at Chembur. The station was extremely crowded and there was a lot of pushing and shoving to get inside the train. I felt like I was at VT station or Dadar station,” said Godavari Wavval, a resident of Govandi. (IE Photo: Ganesh Shirsekar)

India's first monorail was inaugurated on Saturday (February 1) with Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and several media persons getting aboard the inaugural ride. (IE Photo: Prashant Nadkar)

India's first Monorail service will commence operations from Sunday (Febraury 2) on the 8.9 km Wadala-Chembur section in the central-eastern suburbs of the metropolis after a delay of over two years.(IE Photo: Prashant Nadkar)

The Rs 3,000 crore monorail project is being implemented in two phases. The first phase comprises the 8.9 km long Wadala-Chembur section in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai. (IE Photo: Prashant Nadkar)

In the second phase the monorail services will be extended to Sant Gadge Maharaj Chowk in South Mumbai.(IE Photo: Prashant Nadkar)

The Mumbai monorail fares will range between Rs 5 and Rs 19. The Mumbai monorail will be seen in three colours — green, pink and sky blue. (IE Photo: Prashant Nadkar)

The seven stations on phase 1 of Monorail are Chembur, VN Purav/RC Marg Junction, Fertilizer Township, Bharat Petroleum, Mysore Colony, Bhakti Park and Wadala Depot. (IE Photo: Prashant Nadkar)

The monorail will begin with four coaches which have a combined carrying capacity of 2,300 passengers at every 15 minutes. (IE Photo: Prashant Nadkar)

The project will be constructed and made operational for around Rs 3,000 crore. (IE Photo: Prashant Nadkar)

Once commissioned, the 19.17-km Chembur-Wadala-Jacob Circle Monorail corridor will be world's second longest monorail corridor, the longest being Japan’s Osaka Monorail corridor which is 23.8 km, MMRDA said. (IE Photo: Prashant Nadkar)

More of the monorail. (IE Photo: Prashant Nadkar)