Railway body to plan commuter facilities

Mumbai: Plans are afoot for a separate body to design, build and maintain toilets on platforms of railway stations in Mumbai. Union minister Suresh Prabhu said that a Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC)-like body was on the cards which would focus only on essential amenities for commuters. Speaking to reporters via video conferencing, Mr Prabhu said, “We are working with the state government and soon, there will be a private company for amenities as almost half of the railway passengers are from Mumbai. It will be much like the MRVC that currently operates out of the city and will provide the best of amenities for Mumbaikars as well as Maharashtra.”

This is a welcome move. Currently, the MRVC is the planning body in charge of everything ranging from railway lines to mega projects like CST-Panvel and Bandra-Virar to building of toilets. “The MRVC is planning and designing railway lines as well as toilets, so if the latter is outsourced privately, toilets will definitely be cleaner and better maintained,” said officials.

They said that this would be part of the joint venture signed by Mr Prabhu and the CM in December last year. Other amenities including foot-over-bridges, skywalks, lifts, escalators and water coolers will also be part of the new company’s focus.

Mr Prabhu also said that as part of the station redevelopment programme, the railway would model stations on the lines of airports.