How Mumbai Monorail Became A 'White Elephant'

Mumbai's monorail services restarted today after two trains broke down -- one between Bhakti Park and Chembur stations near Mysore Colony and another between Acharya Atre and Wadala Mono Rail Station -- on Tuesday evening, leaving nearly 800 passengers stranded.

The power went out inside the monorail, and the air conditioning stopped working, leaving passengers feeling uneasy. After two hours of struggle, firefighters evacuated all the passengers from the compartment.

The monorail running in Mumbai is India's first monorail and the first of its kind. Launched in 2014, the monorail connects Chembur, a northeastern suburb of Mumbai, with the Seven Roads area of central Mumbai. Despite providing its services for nearly 11 years, the monorail has not won the hearts of the people of Mumbai. Now it is considered a white elephant of Mumbai. Here are the reasons why the monorail project in Mumbai proved to be a failure.

Accidents

Ever since the Mumbai monorail started running, there have been several incidents. Accidents like the one that took place on Tuesday have happened several times before, when the monorail got stuck midway and firefighters were called to save the lives of the passengers. One morning in 2017, two coaches of the monorail caught fire. Fortunately, the trains were empty at the time, and no one was hurt. 

Frequent Technical Glitches

If one wants to use the monorail regularly between home and office, it has not proved to be a reliable medium. Often, its parts get damaged, and then the parts of one train are removed and put in another train. Frequent technical glitches affect the operation of trains.

Low frequency

Mumbai local trains are available every three to four minutes. Metro trains also run frequently, unlike the monorail. If one monorail leaves, one has to wait for 20-30 minutes to catch another. Such poor frequency makes the monorail an unpopular mode of transport in a busy city like Mumbai.

Poor Planning

The entire planning of the Mumbai monorail network was done without considering its practical use. Many stations are far away from populated areas. An example is Bhakti Park station. Residents of Bhakti Park are unable to use this monorail, as they have to take a bus or taxi for 2 km to reach the monorail station. By highlighting the monorail, the builders of this area increased the price of flats in their buildings, but the people living in these buildings do not benefit from the monorail.

No Connection With Other Means Of Transport

Except for the Wadala railway station on the Harbour Line, there is no monorail station close to any other railway station or metro station. This is also one of the reasons why the monorail failed. The monorail is run by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, a government agency of Maharashtra. It is being considered whether the monorail, which is constantly running at a loss, should either be closed or restructured in a new way.