Renumbering at three more stations likely to cause confusion

Mumbai: If renumbering of platforms at Andheri station on February 5 was cause for confusion among commuters, they are only in for more confusion as platforms at Santacruz, Vile Parle, and Borivali stations too are slated to be renumbered this month. Western Railway (WR) has undertaken renumbering of platforms, beginning with stations that overlap with its harbour services from Andheri-CST/Panvel.

According to officials, this will be a good move operationally as many platforms that were added much later on these stations were not sequenced properly. “If you see a lot of platforms were confusing - for example at Andheri where there were 6 and 6A platforms. We wanted to renumber them as it tends to cause confusion among commuters who may not hear “A” during the announcement. This should have been done earlier but no one had imagined that it would be a problem.”

In December last year, WR had undertaken a similar renumbering of platforms at Bandra station. Officials are a bit wary of the task at hand in Borivali which has eight platforms and sees huge crowds as almost all long-distance trains halt there. Vile Parle and Santacruz have six platforms each.

WR chief public relations officer Ravindra Bhakar said, “This is being done to make it easier for commuters to identify the platform on which their train will come. We will be making necessary announcements for commuters to be aware of the changes.”