Mumbai: Amid heavy rain on Monday morning, Mumbai Monorail services were disrupted for the seventh time in less than a month.
Following incessant rains since the early hours of Monday, a monorail train carrying 17 passengers stalled on a curve between the Antop Hill and GTB Nagar stations at 7.16 am due to a technical fault, according to officials. The stranded passengers were transferred to another train on the elevated tracks, even as services were disrupted for a couple of hours during Monday morning rush hour.
“The Rolling Stock Train 11 was headed to Chembur when the air pressure in the hydraulic system suddenly dropped. This necessitated the application of parking brakes,” said an official aware of the developments.
The Maha Mumbai Metro Operation Corporation Limited (MMMOCL), the agency in charge of Mumbai Monorail, confirmed the incident. “Today, a technical snag occurred in one of the monorail trains. As per safety protocols, all 17 passengers onboard were swiftly and safely transferred to another train and taken to the next station by 7.40 am,” it said in a statement.
“Our staff ensured a safe and efficient train-to-train transfer, successfully moving 17 passengers from the stalled monorail train to another train within minutes. This method is among the safest and quickest in such situations,” said an MMMOCL official, requesting anonymity.
The Mumbai fire brigade had also dispatched its vehicle to the spot where the train had stalled in case the passengers had to be rescued with ladders. However, this wasn’t required as the train-to-train rescue methodology was used, officials said.
“Although one of the fire tenders had arrived at the spot, the monorail coming from Chembur was halted, and passengers were transferred onto it,” Rajesh Bhojane, a Wadala resident and a witness to Monday’s incident, told ANI.
Monorail services were delayed following the incident, as only a single line was operational between Sant Gadge Maharaj Chowk (Jacob Circle) and Wadala. Services between Wadala and Chembur were not affected, officials said. The affected train was towed away later, and normalcy was restored after a couple of hours, officials said.
The incident brought back memories of the evening of August 19, when two monorail trains came to a halt during a day of heavy rain, necessitating the rescue of 1,148 passengers.
Questioning the reliability of monorail services, a former official involved in the project told HT that the trains are fit to be sent to the scrapyard. “If it’s true that crores of rupees have been invested to overhaul the systems after taking over from Malaysian manufacturer Scomi Engineering, it should have reflected in the trains being reliable enough. There are many slips between the cup and the lip. Even the new rakes lying inside the depot for 10-11 months now are not being used,” the official said.
The MMMOCL official quoted earlier said that technical glitches are the main reason for such disruptions. “On each occasion, there are some new glitches occurring, despite taking as many preventive maintenance measures as possible. Additionally, unsuccessful attempts have been made to reach out to Scomi Engineering for the last 3-4 years for spares and support,” the official added.
The Mumbai Monorail runs on a 20-kilometre elevated track, connecting Sant Gadge Maharaj Chowk in south Mumbai to Chembur in the eastern suburbs. However, over a decade after its launch, the service operates with a fleet of just eight trains, with only five to six operational at any given point.
MMMOCL had ordered 10 new trains late last year to improve its service frequency. As of August, seven of these new rakes had arrived at the Wadala depot. However, they’re still awaiting safety clearance to ferry commuters. MMMOCL’s initial goal of having a fleet of 18 trains in service by August has been pushed back to the end of 2025.