Monorail completes 3-km trial run in 13 minutes.

Officials of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) recently said that they successfully conducted a three-km-long trial run as part of the Monorail’s Phase II on August 15.

Train No. 9 was used for the non-signalling trial run from Wadala to Acharya Atre Nagar in Antop Hill. The train started at 8.31 a.m. from Wadala and at 8.44 a.m. reached Acharya Atre Nagar station via GTB Nagar and Antop Hill stations. The train began its return journey at 8.47 a.m. and reached Wadala at 9 a.m. at a speed of 15 kmph. “The trial run did not include passengers, and no problems were observed,” an MMRDA spokesperson said.

The Monorail’s 8.93-km-long Phase I between Wadala and Chembur was opened to the public in February 2014. But the 10.24-km-long Phase II from Wadala to Jacob Circle, which was scheduled to be completed by April 2016, has missed several deadlines. Being built at an estimated cost of Rs. 2,460 crore, Phase II will have 12 stations: Wadala Depot, GTB Nagar, Antop Hill, Acharya Atre Nagar, Wadala Bridge, Dadar East, Naigaon, Ambedkar Nagar, Mint Colony, Chinchpokli, Lower Parel and Sant Gadge Maharaj Chowk or Jacob Circle.

The trial run was conducted under the supervision of Roshan Stanislaus, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Scomi Engineering; Mathew Varughese, Head — Operations, Scomi Engineering; and Ramchandra Dambal, Head — Electricals, L&T.

THE HINDU