Following frequent disruptions in monorail services, activists have said that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) should fix the accountability on the contractor who is respon
Following frequent disruptions in monorail services, activists have said that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) should fix the accountability on the contractor who is responsible for the operation and maintenance of monorail services.
In the past two months, monorail services have been disrupted thrice owing to problems related to tyre bursts or tyre fall of the rolling stocks. “Different agencies have carried out different works like providing rolling stocks, traction etc, but when it comes to the failure of a particular system, the accountability should be held on the contractor,” said transport expert Jitendra Gupta.
“The MMRDA is also partly responsible for the mess as the monorail was not at all suited for the city and it is the joint failure of both the MMRDA and the contractors responsible for the construction. If there are so many complications in phase one itself, I am afraid of what will happen when phase two is commissioned, where more services will be commissioned and more passenger inflow will be involved,” Mr Gupta said.
According to the contract, Scomi Engineering, a Malaysia-based company, is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the monorail till mid-2017.
Sudhir Badami, a transport expert, said, “The operation manual for smooth functioning of the monorail services should be strictly followed to ensure the safety of the operation of the whole services. If there are problems with tyre bursts and tyre fall, the guarantee period of the tyre should be checked and the supplier should be asked to replace it. There could be a technical snag but it could be prevented if the operation manual is properly followed.”
On Monday, monorail services were disrupted for around six hours owing to a tyre burst resulting in a tyre falling down near Mahul Creek, just before the Bhakti Park station, when the rolling stock was being taken to Wadala depot for repairs. Prior to this, two different incidents of tyre burst and tyre fall were reported in the last week of June and mid-July.
However, when this paper contacted MMRDA commissioner U.P.S. Madan to ask whether an inquiry will be initiated over frequent disruptions to fix the accountability, it did not get any response.
Dilip Kawathkar, MMRDA spokesperson, said he was not aware if action would be taken against the operation and maintenance contractor.
