Mumbai will get its first travelator that will connect Mahalaxmi railway station on Western Railway with Sant Gadge Maharaja Chowk Monorail station, which is the terminal station of the fully-elevated corridor that runs on a 20km stretch up to Chembur.
At the moment, travelators are only seen within airports, where they are useful for passengers carrying luggage. SVR Srinivas, Metropolitan Commissioner, told the media that they considered extending the monorail up to Mahalaxmi station and the planned Metro 3 subterranean station. They are now moving forward with their plans to use a travelator to bridge this gap. This travelator will be installed at a higher elevation by MMRDA. A senior official revealed that if they wish to extend the monorail in the future, this travellator will be removed, and a guideway beam will be erected on which the train may run. The official said that the travelator will be around 500 m long and contain two 3 m wide tracks for bi-directional passenger transit. The cost of installing the travellator will be Rs 6 crore compared to Rs 150 crore-Rs 200 crore needed to expand the monorail. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the monorail had a passenger capacity of 18,000. Authorities claimed that now, it can accommodate two lakh people every day. The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) Ltd is building an underground Metro station that will connect to the Mahalaxmi station, resulting in a boost in Monorail ridership. The distance between Sant Ghadge Maharaj Chowk Monorail station and Mahalaxmi Metro station is 700 m, and few people will travel this distance after exiting the subway system to board the Monorail. Image Source
