How did the Mumbai Monorail bogie derail near the Wadala-GTB Nagar station?

A newly-inducted Mumbai Monorail derailed during a trial run on Wednesday, damaging the bogie near the Wadala Depot station. The incident has raised concerns regarding the   safety and functionality of the Mumbai Monorail, which had earlier broken down between Chembu and Bhakti Park during heavy rains in August.

The BMC Disaster Management report said the accident occurred at 9 am near the Wadala-GTB Monorail Station, near the RTO Junction. The train was on a trial run and  had no passengers, except the train captain and an engineer who was onboard for testing.

The exact reason for the bogie derailing has not been listed, but preliminary reports hint  that the accident occurred due to signalling equipment not being operational. Due to this,  the operation control room was unable to detect the train’s exact location and reportedly moved the guideway beam switch while the rake was positioned on the switch point, leading to the mishap, reported Mid-Day.

The Monorail staff on scene quickly responded to the situation, and the Mumbai Fire Brigade was also alerted.

This isn’t the first time that the Mumbai Monorail suffered techinical glitches. On August 20, a train broke down between Chembur and Bhakti Park stations during heavy rains, leaving more than 500 passengers stranded until rescued. Then, on September 15,  another monorail train near Wadala suffered a software-related glitch, forcing the emergency evacuation of 17 passengers. Services were partially disrupted for more than two hours that day.

 

India