Western Railway to get rid of its death traps

Western Railway (WR) on Friday submitted a 200-page exhaustive audit report, which had been commissioned to improve infrastructure on platforms following the Elphinstone FOB stampede. It now plans to introduce a slew of measures to improve passenger amenities and also do a better job of crowd management during peak hours and on holidays. The audit of the stations began on October 1 and the groundwork was finished in 10 days. The report for each station was made by five multi-disciplinary teams, which included officials from WR’s construction and engineering departments, the civic body, the Railway Police Force and the city police.

No parking

One of the first recommendation that has surfaced from the report is that parking outside SoBo stations like Marine Lines and Charni Road will be banned, thereby allowing for quick and easy dispersal of crowds during peak hours. An official said, “We have yet to decide how much space the no parking zone will occupy but we will take the help of the traffic police to ensure that commuters having to weave themselves around vehicles when they step out from the station will be eradicated.”

Cover-over-platforms

WR will also be filling up gaps in the cover-over-platforms (COP) on all 36 stations, as it was seen that commuters tend to crowd on that part of the platforms which has a cover for shelter from the rain. “We have a lot of gaps in our COPs, so a lot of times when it rains, people run and take cover under those portions of the platform where there is a cover. This leads to over crowding and chaos during the monsoon and when a train arrives, this chaos worsens. Hence, there will be no part of any platform from Churchgate to Dahanu without cover,” said an official.

FOBS AND SKYWALKS

Bandra station will now be connected with the help of a foot overbridge (FOB)  to a skywalk at the BKC end. In fact, Bandra east has seen an influx of commuters due to BKC. Elphinstone, Mahalaxmi and a few other stations, which have a limited or narrow landing, will also be provided with an exit by connecting FOBs to skywalks.

Making space

Unnecessary or rarely used toilets as well as ‘pyaus’ built almost five decades ago will be done away with to create more space for commuters. According to an official, “Fice-decade-old Pyaus  are now only taking up space on the platform that can otherwise be used by commuters, so we are going to get rid of them. There are also a lot of toilets at the end of platforms that are rarely used, because it is secluded or because there is an existing one in the middle of the platform. They too take up space and we can use every inch during peak hours.”