Mumbai: Ram Mandir station to be operational in two weeks

Mumbai: The newest station to be inducted on the Mumbai suburban rail line is Ram Mandir, which will be operational in a week or two, said city railway officials. The station was built in order to decongest Jogeshwari and Goregaon stations.

The Ram Mandir station, which was tentatively named Oshiwara before the demand for the current name caught momentum in November, was constructed at a cost of Rs 32 crore, work for which was started way back in 2006.

A senior official on the condition of anonymity said, “The construction work has been completed but services on this line will commence in maybe a week or two. Services will be initially run on the line from Churchgate-Virar-Dahanu and once the work on the Harbour section up to Goregaon is completed, it will be a station on the CST-Goregaon section as well.”

The official further added, “The biggest advantage of this station will be that Jogeshwari will be decongested with decreased commuter footfall and there will less frenzy than, say, today”. This station will help de-congest traffic by providing direct connectivity to commercial hubs in the east, including Oracle Financial Services, Oberoi Mall, Sadhana Industrial Estate and Nirlon Knowledge Park.

Chief public relations officer, Western Railways, Ravindra Bhakar said, “There is no fixed date as such as of now, but we will make the station a part of our operations very soon.”