The historic monorail rake that did the first test run in Mumbai on Republic Day will not stay in the city for long. Though it is one of the 15 monorail trains that will run between Jacob Circle and Chembur in the city, for now it will be taken back to Malaysia by infrastructure giant Scomi for further testing.
Suhaimi Tan Sri Yaacob, country president of Scomi India confirmed the development. “After the test run is successfully conducted, we will be sending back the rake to our plant in Kuala Lumpur. Further to this, the rake will be attached to three other rakes and the first train will be used as a prototype for the other 14 trains. Once the second train is ready, it will be delivered to Mumbai by June this year,” Yaacob told DNA.
The first train that will be used as a prototype will be the last train to be delivered to Mumbai, Yaacob added.
Elaborating on the January 26 test run carried out by Scomi officials along with their partner Larsen and Toubro (L&T), Yaacob said that they have so far not encountered any glitches in the monorail in Mumbai.
“At the moment everything is working as per the plan. We expect to complete the first 3 km stretch of the Mumbai monorail by March this year. However, it would depend on the progress of the civil work, which is in full swing right now. The first two stations likely to be completed are Wadala and Bhakti Park,” Yaacob said.
Ashiwini Bhide, joint commissioner, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), said: “We have some land acquisitions to be completed near the HPCL and BPCL
corner as well as at the Chembur naka. However, work on four to five stretches from Wadala to Bhakti Park is on in full swing.”
