A monorail train in Mumbai broke down on Tuesday evening amid heavy rainfall, leaving nearly 200 passengers stranded for more than two hours. The incident occurred when the monorail rake, running on an elevated track, stopped due to a minor power supply issue, according to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).
“Our operations and maintenance teams are already on-site and working to resolve it quickly,” the MMRDA said in a statement.
Passengers Rescued After Panic on Board
The train came to a halt around 6:15 pm between Chembur and Bhakti Park. Visuals from the scene showed distressed passengers attempting to break open the windows before fire brigade officials arrived.
“In the emergency situation, passengers immediately contacted the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s helpline number 1916 for assistance,” the BMC said.
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“Responding promptly, the Mumbai Fire Brigade rushed to the spot and began rescue operations with the help of three snorkel vehicles,” the civic body added.
What MMRDA said
Today, a Monorail train (RST-4) stalled between Bhakti Park and Chembur, near Mysore Colony station.Preliminary checks revealed that due to overcrowding, the total weight of the train rose to around 109 metric tonnes, which exceeded its designed capacity of 104 metric tonnes. This excess weight caused a break in the mechanical contact between the power rail and the current collector, cutting off the electricity supply required to run the train.
MMRDA immediately dispatched a team of technicians to the site and, as per SOP, deployed another mono to tow stalled mono. Normally, in such situations, the stalled train is towed to the nearest station. However, because of the excess weight, it could not be towed and therefore, a rescue operation had to be carried out with the help of the Fire Brigade.
The overcrowding was triggered by the closure of the Indian Railways Harbour Line owing to heavy rainfall in Mumbai. Despite repeated efforts by security personnel to regulate boarding and prevent excessive crowding, the surge in commuter demand overwhelmed the system.
It is important to note that the Mumbai Monorail is a low-capacity transit system, intended to serve specific corridors and not designed for sudden high-volume loads akin to suburban railways or metro systems.
MMRDA is committed to safe and secure journey by its Metro and Mono rail systems, today’s incident is happened primarily due to overcrowding, MMRDA requests all commuters to kindly follow the instructions of the security and technical teams deployed for ensuring smooth operations during the emergency situations like today.
MMRDA is actively coordinating with BMC and emergency services to provide passenger assistance, deboard affected commuters safely, and restore power and operations at the earliest. Immediate corrective actions are underway, and a detailed technical review is being conducted to prevent recurrence.
Heavy Rains Disrupt Mumbai Life
The breakdown came as Mumbai was reeling under continuous heavy rains for the past two days, which flooded streets, stranded commuters and slowed vehicular movement.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said after the weekly cabinet meeting, “Mumbai has witnessed a record rainfall of nearly 300 mm. The city’s lifeline — suburban trains — has slowed down. The Mithi river (which runs through Mumbai) reached the danger-level mark and 400 to 500 persons had to be evacuated.”
