m) was adopted in Mumbai. According to the MMRDA, the bus service operating in the city plied crowded and narrow areas at very slow speeds, thus offering no benefits to the commuters and adding to the traffic congestion. The agency believed that an elevated monorail, that can take sharp turns, climb up and down easily, and run at an average speed of 30 km/hr and maximum speed of 80 km/hr would address these issues. The MMRDA also stated that the monorail would connect many parts of the city which were not connected by suburban rail system or the proposed metro rail system. The agency also stated that the monorail would be an efficient feeder transit to the metro and suburban rail systems offering efficient, safe, air-conditioned, comfortable and affordable public transport to commuters.
Then Chief Minister of Maharashtra Vilasrao Deshmukh cleared the notification for the construction of the first monorail line in Mumbai on 18 August 2008. The line would connect Jacob Circle, Wadala and Mahul via Chembur, providing a feeder service to the existing Mumbai Suburban Railway. The notification formally appointed the MMRDA as the system administrator for the monorail project. It would be responsible for land acquisition along the route, and the construction, allied structures, signalling and safety of the monorail system. On 11 November 2008, Larsen and Toubro, along with Malaysian partner Scomi, were awarded a 24.6 billion (US$390 million) contract to build and operate the monorail until 2029.
The monorail may not be further extended by the MMRDA, as it may prove inadequate for Mumbai's population density. Foreign consultants have suggested a Metro or LRT system over a monorail for many Indian cities, e.g. Bangalore.
Construction of the Mumbai Monorail started in January 2009 along the Chembur – Wadala – Jacob Circle route and was scheduled to be completed in April 2011. Due to delays, the deadline for operation of the first phase of the line, between Chembur and Wadala, was postponed to August 2012, and then 15 September 2013. The second portion, from Jacob Circle to Wadala, had been expected to be ready by December 2013.
A 108-metre (354 ft) test run was successfully conducted on 26 January 2010. The monorail had its first test run on 18 February 2012 from its yard in Wadala to a station at Bhakti Park, a distance of around a kilometre. Scomi, the Malaysian company that supplied the brakes for the project, was in charge of the trial. The MMRDA will decide whether the Singapore-based SMRT or the Hong Kong-based Mass Transit Rail will be given the task of certifying the monorail system. This is because the Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) had said it didn't have the capacity to certify the monorail, as it was a different system from the railways. The electrical workings of the monorail will be certified by the Electrical Inspector General.
The MMRDA invited proposals from agencies for securing, maintaining and leasing of bulk commercial advertisement rights to display advertisements on monorail piers and for securing advertisements at all the seven stations on the Chembur-Wadala corridor. The appointed agency will fix, maintain secure advertisements for the station areas and maintain monorail piers by removing all unwanted posters, stickers, drawings, graffiti etc. and also lease advertisement rights of these piers for commercial advertisements.
In a meeting between Larsen & Toubro and MMRDA official, held on 23 August 2013, the MMRDA raised concerns over the lack of trains, inadequate safety measures, technical faults and inexperienced staff working on the project. MMRDA metropolitan commissioner UPS Madan warned that the MMRDA would be forced to impose penalties and initiate legal action against the contractors in case of accidents.
The cost of setting up the monorail service is roughly 850 million (US$14 million) per km (mi). The complete network of about 135 kilometres (84 mi) is recommended for development from 2011 to 2031 in phases at the total cost of 2.0 billion.
The Mumbai Monorail master plan proposed the constr