20 August,2016 10:40 AM IST | | Ranjeet Jadhav
Fearing criticism, the authorities had kept the trial a secret; however, the half-hour trial run between Wadala and Acharya Atre Nagar was successful
While the Phase 2 of the Monorail between Jacob Circle and Wadala is nearing completion, a secret (and successful) test 3-km test run was conducted on the route on Independence Day. The authorities had kept it a secret fearing criticism if it failed.
Also read: MMRDA hopeful of launching Mumbai Monorail phase II by 2016
Train number 4 ran on 15 kmph for the run
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Confirming the same Additional Metropolitan Commissioner Sanjay Khandare said, "On Independence Day, we finally archived success in completing our first non-signal trial run of the Monorail on a 3km stretch on Phase 2." The trial run, which was kept a secret till August 15, was held early in the morning. The civil construction work on Phase 2 is more than 90 per cent complete and the work of electrification and signalling is in progress.
The monorail train chugs along its trial run as Independence Day celebrations continue
MMRDA has recently faced a lot of criticism from the public as Phase 1, which runs between Wadala and Chembur, has been facing a lot of technical problems. Another reason for the criticism is the fewer number of commuters using Phase-1, because of which the services have mired in losses. Phase-2 has already missed 12 deadlines and the latest deadline is to complete the entire work by December this year.
It is being said that the main reason why the trial run was kept as a secret was because the authorities feared that if a technical problem occurs during the run, then it will have to face criticism again. However, the trail run was successful.
An MMRDA spokesperson said, "A 3-km non-signalling trial run was held and it was train number 4 that took part in the same. The trial run that started at 8.31 am from Wadala reached Acharya Atre Nagar via GTB Nagar and Antop Hill stations at 8.44 am. The train began its return journey at 8.47 am and concluded at 9 am, running at 15 kmph."
There were no passengers on the train during the run. Roshan Stanislaus, Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Scomi Engineering, Mathew Varughese, Head of Operations, Scomi Engineering and Ramchandra Dambal, Head of Electricals, L&T were present during the trial run.
