The CMRS (Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety) Delhi team will begin safety trials from Thursday on both the Chembur–Jacob Circle Monorail corridor and the Chembur Metro station on the Andheri West–Mankhurd Metro Line 2B. Once these trials are successfully completed, Chembur Metro station will be opened for public service, while the Monorail is expected to resume operations after a long gap.
The Chembur station is the only station in the second phase of the Metro Line 2B corridor to be commissioned. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is executing the Andheri West–Mandale Metro Line 2B project in three phases. The Mandale–Diamond Garden stretch was opened for passengers in April, but the response has been relatively low, with an average of only around 3,000 passengers per day using the section.
The next phase, which includes the Diamond Garden to Saraswat Nagar stretch, is expected to be operational only by 2027. Officials believe that ridership will improve significantly once the full corridor becomes operational, as it will eventually allow direct connectivity from Mankhurd to Bandra and beyond. However, until then, low usage of the current operational stretch has raised concerns within MMRDA.
In view of this, MMRDA had earlier decided to open the Chembur Metro station (part of the second phase) by May–June. The station has now been fully completed, and preparations for commissioning have reached the final stage.
At the same time, the Monorail service, which has been suspended since September 2025, is also expected to resume around May–June after undergoing modernization and internal testing. CMRS trials for the Monorail will also begin simultaneously.
Once both systems clear safety certification, Chembur Metro station and Monorail services will be opened to passengers. MMRDA also plans to boost ridership by improving last-mile connectivity and is constructing a pedestrian bridge linking the Metro and Monorail stations. Once completed, commuters will be able to easily transfer between the two systems, moving seamlessly from Metro to Monorail and vice versa.
Officials believe this integration could significantly increase passenger usage on both the Metro Line 2B corridor and the Monorail network in the coming months.