To start with,Monorail will run only for 8 hrs a day

“It is a new system and the staff is completely new to monorail operations. We don’t know how much traffic the monorail is going to attract. So,for the first two months,we will operate a single shift of eight hours,” said Ashwini Bhide,additional metropolitan commissioner at MMRDA.

Subsequently,the contractor in charge – a consortium of Larsen & Toubro and Malaysia’s Scomi Engineering – will introduce monorail operations in two shifts,while full-fledged operations of 19 hours will not start before January or February next year.

“If we feel that we are getting sufficient traffic right at the onset and if the operations are smooth,we may extend the hours earlier than planned,” Bhide said.

The 8.3-km Chembur-Wadala corridor will be the first phase of the 19.5-km Chembur-Wadala-Jacob Circle monorail. MMRDA is hoping to commission the second phase a year after the first phase is rolled out. There will be 15 rakes of four coaches each with a carrying capacity of 300 passengers and a crush load capacity of 568.

An official said as per the schedule,the contractor will start operating the monorail from 7 am to 7 pm within two months of the roll-out. It will be available from 5 am to midnight only in January or February next year,the official said.

“The timings of operation are under discussion depending on what peak hours would be like for this line. But we are certainly starting in a staggered manner,” he added.

The Chembur-Wadala monorail will halt at Bhakti Park,Mysore Colony,V N Purav Marg,Fertilizer Colony and R C Marg. The corridor is currently being evaluated for a safety certification by SMRT Corp,Singapore’s mass transit provider,and a former Commissioner of Railway Safety. The MMRDA is in the process of conducting full capacity trial runs.