Mumbai: The trial run of Mumbai’s super-fast monorail has been successful.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, who flagged off the 300-metre trial run, described the monorail as “an engineering marvel” and “the only one of its kind in the country” for the use of the common man.

About 3 lakh people are expected to use the monorail daily, Chavan said.

The monorail moves on a single elevated beam, instead of the conventional tracks.

The Mumbai monorail project – being jointly implemented by Larsen & Toubro and the Scomi Group, of Malaysia – is expected to be completed in 2010 itself, at a cost of Rs 2,460 crore.

An initiative of the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA), the Mumbai monorail project involves design, construction, installation, testing and commissioning of a 19.4-kilometre route stretching between Jacob Circle and Chembur.

While the Phase I of the Mumbai monorail project will be between Wadala and Chembur via Mahul (about 9 kilometres), the Phase II will cover the distance between Gadge Maharaj Chowk and Wadala (11 kilometres).

We are trying to get hold of a few good photos of the Mumbai Monorail for you.

According to Shailendra Roy, executive vice-president and head of corporate initiatives of Larsen & Toubro, the Phase I of the monorail from Wadala to Chembur is scheduled to be commissioned by the end of 2010, and the Phase II by December 2011.

The monorail network is aimed at easing the traffic in Mumbai, the most populous city in India, having a population of about 14 million people. It is also expected to supplement the existing public transport system in Mumbai, along with the underground metro rail network under construction.

It has been planned to introduce, to start with, 14 monorails with 4 coaches, with a capacity of 500 passengers.

The super-fast monorail will have a frequency of 4.5 minutes, and the fare will range from Rs 8 to Rs 20.

Mumbai monorail’s first corridor will have 15 trains – with 9 of them for the Wadala-Jacob Circle stretch, and the rest for the Chembur-Wadala stretch.

Three coaches from Malaysia are likely to arrive in Mumbai by March 2010.

Suhaimi Yaacob, president of Scomi’s India Projects, said the company estimates that the Wadala-Jacob Circle stretch will have a higher passenger density than the Chembur-Wadala one. The Wadala-Jacob Circle alignment, Yaacob added, has fewer public-transport alternatives.

He said the pillars are designed in such a way that they can take the weight of 6-coach rakes. This means that, in future, if the services need be augmented, there is the scope of adding 2 more coaches without affecting the frequency of the trains at that time.

Countries such as Brazil have planned 8-coach monorail trains, according to Suhaimi Yaacob.

Two other Duronto trains – between Sealdah in Kolkata and New Delhi, and between Chennai Central station and Hazrat Nizamuddin were flagged off recently.

The Railway decided to launch the 2 Duronto Express trains from Maharashtra after it obtained clearance from the Election Commission of India.

Since the Model Code of Conduct for Elections is in place for the Maharashtra Assembly elections to be held on October 13, 2009, the Election Commission had directed that no minister should be involved in the flagging-off of the 2 trains.

The 2263 Pune-Hazrat Nizamuddin Duronto Express leaves Pune at 11.10 a.m. every Tuesday and Friday and arrives at Hazrat Nizamuddin at 7.10 a.m. the next day. On the return leg, the 2264 Hazrat Nizamuddin-Pune Duronto train starts from Hazrat Nizamuddin every Monday and Thursday at 11.00 a.m. and arrives at Pune at 7.20 a.m. the following day.

The 2262 Howrah-Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus Duronto Express will depart from Howrah at 8.20 am on every Monday and Friday and will reach Mumbai at 10.30 a.m. the next day. In the return direction, the 2261 Duronto Express leaves Mumbai at 5.15 p.m. every Tuesday and Saturday and reaches Howrah at 7.40 p.m. the next day.

The Howrah-Mumbai train will pass through Nagpur, but it will not have a commercial stoppage there.

The Railway has announced that there will not be any Tatkal quota in the Duronto Express trains as also many other concessions. There will be no discounts on tickets – under any scheme – for students, patients, the physically challenged, artistes and others in Duronto trains. However, senior citizens will get concessions.

According to reports, the non-availability of the Tatkal scheme on Duronto Express trains has displeased the business community, for whom the Tatkal scheme was of much help.

An official of the Railway said that since the non-stop, air-conditioned Duronto Express trains have facilities such as food and bedrolls like in the Rajdhani trains and since the fares in the Duronto trains are rather low, concessions cannot be given to the passengers.

In the Railway Budget for 2009-10, Minister for Railways Mamata Banerjee had announced that a total of 12 Duronto trains would be introduced.

Out of the promised 12 Duronto Express trains, 4 have been launched – for Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Pune and Chennai.

Mamata Banerjee also announced that all the Duronto trains will run within the next 2 months.