Mumbai: Railway minister Suresh Prabhu will inaugurate the newly-constructed suburban station Ram Mandir on Thursday. The inauguration for the station between Goregaon and Jogeshwari stations is scheduled to begin at 4 pm. Union as well as state government ministers are expected to be present at the event.
Only slow suburban services would halt at this station in the Down and Up directions, on platforms 3 and 4 respectively, on Thursday. The first train to halt at Ram Mandir station in the Down direction will be BO 90801, leaving Churchgate at 5.11 pm and reaching Ram Mandir at 6 pm. In the UP direction, the first train would be BO 90830, which will depart from Borivali at 5.57 pm and reach Ram Mandir station at 6.10 pm.
On the Churchgate-Andheri and Churchgate-Borivali section, all semi-fast and fast trains will not halt at Ram Mandir station. The new station has been constructed between Jogeshwari and Goregaon as there was a long-standing demand for construction of a suburban station between these two stations.
Ram Mandir station has four platforms in total, which will cater to train services on the slow and Harbour corridors. The total number of suburban stations between Churchgate and Dahanu Road will increase to 37 in number after the opening of Ram Mandir station.
“Ram Mandir station will help decongest both Jogeshwari as well as Goregaon stations and will be a big boon for the residents of nearby localities. Passengers are requested to take note of the arrangements made at the station,” said Ravinder Bhakar, chief public relations officer, Western Railway.
The station was constructed at a cost of Rs 32 crore, and work on it was started way back in 2006. An official said, “The biggest advantage of this station is that Jogeshwari would be decongested with a decrease in commuter footfall and there will thus be less frenzy than, say, today.”
This station would also 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.
