The first coach of the Monorail should be ready by January,according to a senior officer of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA). The rolling stock work,undertaken by Scomi Engineering and Larsen and Toubro,for the project commenced last month at Rawang (north of Kaula Lumpur) in Malaysia. The work began after the MMRDA gave its approval for the coach designs submitted by Scomi and L&T, said the official. We provided them with the exterior designs by the National Institute of Designs (NID), the official added. The MMRDA had asked NID,Ahmedabad,to design the exterior of the Monorail and choose the colour scheme to give it a modern look. Each rake of the Monorail will have four air-conditioned coaches,measuring some 35 feet each. The platform would measure 65 metres. It will have the capacity to carry 20,000 commutes per hour. Each rake will have a capacity of 700 passengers. The coaches would be equipped with CCTV cameras. The first corridor of the Monorail is being built by the MMRDA. The Monorail is to be built in phases from Chembur to Wadala and Wadala to Jacob Circle at a cost of Rs 2,460 crore. The first phase is to be completed by November 2010 while the second phase of the first corridor is to be completed by April 2011.
