The Metro lines 2A and 7 as well as Monorail are bleeding the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and the losses are estimated to swell to as much as over ₹800 crore during the ongoing financial year.
Metro 2A runs between Dahisar East and Andheri, Metro 7 between Dahisar East and Gundavali, while Monorail snakes between Chembur and Jacob Circle via Wadala.
Old metro lines incur loss of Rs280.74 crore in year
Just over a year-old Metro lines of 2A and 7 have already made a loss of ₹280.74 crore until March 31, 2023. Since its partial inauguration in April 2022, these two lines totalling to 35.1km have earned ₹41.26 crore in revenue against ₹322 crore in expenditure incurred during the last fiscal.
These losses are despite around 2.10 lakh passengers riding these two lines daily.
On the other hand, the white elephant of Mumbai Monorail, which has been a failure ever since its opening back in February 2014, will only widen the losses for the MMRDA, showed statistics available with The Free Press Journal.
Monorail will incur Rs542.63 crore loss this year
Currently, the average ridership on Mumbai Monorail is almost 10,000 passengers and train frequency is every 25 minutes. In 2022-23, a total of 36.36 lakh passengers took the ride of India’s only such public transportation system.
The statistics available show that during 2023-24, Mumbai Monorail will earn ₹13.64 crore in revenue as against an estimated expenditure of ₹542.63 crore. Therefore, the estimated loss during the ongoing year will be Rs523 crore. Half the expenditure will be towards procurement of new monorail trains, the first of which is expected to be delivered by Medha Servo Drives from later this year. A total of 10 monorail train sets have been ordered by MMRDA and presently, 11 monorail trains are here in Mumbai. Of these 11, only 8-9 service passengers.
For the MMRDA, the two metro lines bring in 12.8% of revenue as against 5.4% by Monorail. Given the mounting losses, MMRDA requires a financial revamp.
METRO 2A & 7 (until March 31, 2023)
Expenditure: ₹322 cr
Revenue: ₹41.26 cr
Loss: ₹280.74 cr
MONORAIL (2023-24)
Expenditure: ₹542.63 cr
Revenue: ₹13.64 cr
Loss: ₹528.99 cr
