India's first Monorail launched in Mumbai

The much-anticipated Mumbai Monorail - the first in India - was inaugurated here Saturday, with Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and several media persons climbing aboard the inaugural ride.

The 8.93-km-long Monorail, running between Chembur-Wadala in the east-south direction, comprising the first phase, will be open to the public from Sunday.

The second phase - connecting Wadala with Sant Gadge Maharaj Chowk in south Mumbai, a distance of 19.17 km - will be completed by mid-2015, said officials of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority.

Costing a total Rs.3,000 crore, the fully-elevated Monorail has a minimum height of 5.5 metres and is higher in some sections.

The fully completed Chembur-Sant Gadge Maharaj Chowk corridor will be second longest Monorail corridor in the world after the 23.8-km Osaka Monorail in Japan.