Proposal for Parel terminus divides Central Railway officials

Central Railway (CR) officials are in a bind as CR division last week proposed to its headquarters that passenger and mail express trains should halt at Parel station once the work to convert it into a terminus is completed.

Officials who are against the idea have said that there is no space available for a platform at the station and allowing passenger and express trains to halt there would hit the overall punctuality of all suburban trains.

The CR had awarded a Rs 51-crore tender for the terminus in June but the work itself is yet to begin. “The terminal in itself is a huge project and the point of it was to benefit the suburban section alone. We expect around 600 additional suburban services to be added to the mainline as a result of the terminus, in various sections particularly Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST)-Kurla and CST-Kalyan. But now a proposal has been made to the headquarters, asking that passenger trains be allowed to halt here as well,” said an official on the condition of anonymity.

This, said officials, would hamper plans to originate and terminate local trains for commuters from Parel and decongest the crowds that go to CST. “Currently people working at stations like Parel, Sion, Chinchpokli and Matunga make their way to CST during evening peak hours so that they get seats while travelling home. Very few people go to Dadar station as it is over saturated and Parel in itself has become the hub of a lot of corporate offices and sees at least 1.5 lakh commuters per day,” said the official.

Officials who are in favour of the halt, on the other hand, say that a lot of passenger trains are terminating at either Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) or Dadar since CST has reached its saturation point. “Right now a lot of passengers have to make their way home from Dadar or LTT, which are far from their residences and CST already sees almost 60 passenger trains per day. Hence, Parel would be ideal for many, and it would be beneficial for us too as we can increase the number of passenger trains and give relief to commuters who might have otherwise had to go to CST and catch a local train to the suburbs where they live,” said an official, who was in favour of a halt at Parel.

CR officials will be meeting in the coming week to deliberate on the proposal and decide if it should be sent to the Railway Board in Delhi or not.