Soon, passengers to have more room at 20 stations

With the relentless rise in the number of railway passengers, railway authorities are looking to create more space to better serve commuters at 20 stations in the city and surrounding areas. Prajakta Chavan Rane reports.

With the relentless rise in the number of railway passengers, railway authorities are looking to create more space to better serve commuters at 20 stations in the city and surrounding areas.

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A recent survey by the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) revealed that Thane, with 6.53 lakh daily passengers, is the most crowded station on Central Railway (CR). Andheri station, with 6.04lakh daily passengers, has surpassed Churchgate which caters to 5.05lakh passengers on a daily basis.

MRVC, the corporation responsible for executing suburban rail improvement projects to reduce overcrowding and meet future spatial requirements, has decided to start a station improvement study on the 20 stations.

The study, which will be conducted by EGIS France, an engineering company, will take 10 months following which authorities will decide on alterations needed for the stations.

“Our aim is to create more passenger space on the platform; for this some facilities that are not directly related to passengers will be relocated within railway premises or elsewhere. We will try to keep only passenger related amenities on the platform,” said Rakesh Saksena, managing director MRVC.

To learn how space can be optimally utilised, entry-exit points, required number of lavatories, signage, foot-over-bridges and the like would be surveyed during the study.

For now, the suburban stations that have been shortlisted for the survey on CR are Thane, Dadar, Kalyan, Mulund, Dombivli, Kurla, Wadala, Ulhasnagar, Chembur, Ghatkopar, Ambernath, Badlapur and Shahad. While, on WR, Dadar, Virar, Bandra, Andheri, Lower Parel, Elphinstone, Borivli, Mumbai Central and Goregaon will be surveyed.