Mumbai, Feb 2 (PTI): After years of delay and many operational hiccups, the country’s first Monorail service made its debut in Mumbai on Saturday. Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan inaugurated the service, which will open to public on Sunday.

"Commercial operations of the 8.9-km first phase connecting Wadala-Chembur stations on the northeastern fringe of the megalopolis will commence tomorrow (Sunday) with the first train leaving the Wadala station at 7am," Chavan said.

The Rs. 3,000-crore project is being implemented in two phases. The second phase will take another year for completion, said Chavan.

The Rs. 1,900-crore section is expected to ferry around two lakh passengers a month and will supplement the suburban conventional train network across the metropolis.

In the second phase, services will be extended to Sant Gadge Maharaj Chowk in south Mumbai.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), which owns and operates Monorail, has fixed fares between Rs. 5 and Rs. 11.

Initially, the services will operate with four coaches having a combined carrying capacity of around 570 passengers at an interval of every 15 minutes.

"The MMRDA has already spent Rs. 1,900 crore of Rs. 3,000 crore allocated for the project, including the civil work for the second phase," Chavan said.

The authority plans to extend the train to six coaches and increase the frequency of services up to every nine minutes and then to four minutes, going forward with six coaches.

"The Mumbai Monorail is not just the first in the country, but across the subcontinent. Monorails are in operation in China, Japan, Singapore, Australia, Dubai, Europe, and the Americas," the chief minister said.

The Monorail, a light rapid transport system, is set to change the way Mumbaikars travel as access to its air-conditioned coaches will be through smart-card tickets, lifts and escalators at overhead stations.