Mumbai will perhaps understand Monorail as an elevated rail only due to the space constraint the city faces. Occupying just 1 metre (0.8mx1.5m) of road space, the first Monorail service (Jacob Circle- Wadala – Chembur) is likely to start by the year end, as promised by Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, the developing body.

Made first in Russia in the 1820 by Ivan Elmanov, the use of monorails till about 1980 was limited to amusement parks like the Disneyland in California. However, with rising traffic, most modern cities around the world adopted it as a major feeder system in transport. In an effort to ‘change the way Mumbaikars travel’, the city’s infrastructural body launched the idea thereby making Mumbai the only city in India to have such a service, shortly.

The only closed door, air conditioned service, to run at an elevation of 6.5m, carrying close to 575 commuters, hawker free, beetle stain free (almost surreal in the long run) is sure to become a major tourist attraction for several years to come. See how we behaved when the Delhi Metro first started.