With continuous delays in importing spare parts raising questions about operational efficacy of Monorail services, MMRDA-Scoomi authorities are now planning to take help from local spare parts suppliers
As Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA)-Scoomi authorities continue to be plagued by problems leading to technical snags in the Monorail, they have finally decided to take help from local spare parts suppliers.
In the last 11 months of operation, the Monorail-I on the Wadala-Chembur route has witnessed many technical snags
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In the past, due to delay in importing spare parts, authorities were forced to remove parts from new rakes on standby, and use them to replace the non-working parts of currently operational rakes. MMRDA Additional Commissioner B Venugopal Reddy said, “At present, Monorail services on the Wadala-Chembur route are working smoothly, and there won’t be any problems.”
However, when this reporter questioned if the issue of shortage of spare parts had been sorted out, he said, “There is no shortage of spare parts; the issue has been sorted out. Scoomi is currently in talks with local spare parts manufacturers so we don’t have to import these parts.”
The first phase of the Monorail between Wadala and Chembur was thrown open for the public in February, 2014. However, the technical issues faced in the last 11 months has raised an important question whether trains would be able to operate with minimum glitches when the entire Jacob-Circle-Wadala-Chembur line becomes operational.
In the beginning of December, 2014, MMRDA-Scoomi had to cancel around 20 Monorail services due to technical issues. However, despite facing problems, authorities claim they are happy with the overall performance of phase-I.
Issue of spare parts
The problem of Constant-Velocity joints (CV joints) breaking down has been a significant issue faced by Monorail authorities. As it takes time to import these joints from another country, the same parts from non-operating rakes were being removed and fitted in the operational trains. Parts like nuts and bolts were being purchased from the local market.
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