Mumbai: The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) which took over the operations of monorail in December last year is all set to hire a Singapore-based agency as its expert consultant. A senior official confirmed the development and stated that soon a pact will be signed between both. Interestingly, the same agency has been appointed for suggesting security measures for the ongoing metro lines. The official added after signing the pact, the experts will be visiting the monorail stations and accordingly, safety measures will be executed.
Besides this, after repeated instances of monorail carrying passengers stalled in between due to technical failure, the authority has now called a tender for purchasing of trucks mounted with boom lifts. These trucks will help in evacuating the stranded passengers at the time of emergency. In November 2017, when fire engulfed in the rake, the evacuation of commuters was a major challenge, the officials believe the truck having boom lifts will help to avoid any untoward situation.
The MMRDA is also emphasising on earning revenue through non-farebox. According to the data, only 32 per cent of the operational cost is recovered through farebox revenue which involves renting out station’s empty space for office and for other commerical purposes.
