MUMBAI (Metro Rail News): The Mumbai Monorail service will shortly receive a new rake which will increase the frequency of service on the line.
The new rake was compiled indigenously in Wadala. “This new rake was already provided by the Ex-Contractor Scomi engineering, the Malaysia-based company. However, it was never used as it was unfit for operations. We have fitted it with the requisite machinery that was procured indigenously and have assembled the rake here in Mumbai,” an official claimed.
The original developer and operator of the service SCOMI, had a contract with the transport company that had previously been canceled due to failure in fulfilling contractual obligations
“The rake did not have any spare parts and there were not even seats inside. Thus, it was deemed unfit for operations. We have built the rake using indigenous components completely. And now it is ready for operations. In the next few days, the said rake will be added to the fleet.”
There will be eight monorail rakes in use after the new rake is added. With only one rake expected to run every 22 minutes, Monorail services are erratic due to a lack of rakes. The schedule is frequently difficult to adhere to, and passengers frequently complain about delays in monorail services. The increased rake will increase service frequency to every 15 minutes.
The official stated that it is anticipated that the number of trips would increase to 142 and that daily ridership will rise to 25,000 with the launch of the new rake which was entirely built by the Monorail authority. The Mumbai monorail currently has seven running rakes with 22-minute service intervals. The monorail logs 15,000 ridership daily and does a total of 114 trips every day.
Meanwhile, the first prototype should be delivered to the transport authority by April 2023. The authority has purchased 10 new monorail rakes. The contract for designing these rakes has been awarded to an Indian manufacturing company, Medha Servo Drives Private Limited.
