Central Railway decides to build it to split crowd into two and ease pressure
The construction of the new platform and station is on at Parel. Pic/Bipin Kokate
Six months after the stampede at Elphinstone Road station as work paces ahead on the Parel local train terminus, Central Railway has decided to split the crowd on the existing Parel platform by almost 50 per cent. At Elphinstone station too, the crowd and clutter outside will go away, as the staff quarters’ colony will be demolished to make space for the station’s circulating area.
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Illustration/Ravi Jadhav
Explaining the project, railway officials said the existing Parel slow line platform two will continue to cater to CSMT-bound trains and the new platform that is being constructed will cater to Kalyan-bound trains. This will split the crowd into two and ease pressure on the existing platform infrastructure.
The track in the centre of the two platforms will cater to the Parel terminus that has local trains originating and terminating there. This has two benefits - first is crowding at the existing Parel station will reduce, and the second, the platform width will increase by 1.5 metres and the new bridges will be linked.
The project will cost Rs 51-crore and the station is being remodelled so that it can be utilised to the maximum. “The basic focus is to take the load off Dadar terminus and provide relief to commuters at Parel. The Parel terminus will only be meant for slow trains," a railway official elaborated.
Originally this was part of the additional fifth and sixth lines project that have been proposed between Mumbai CSMT and Kurla under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project 2. The Central Railway had in 2015 formally announced the Parel local train Terminus railway project and work had been in progress when the Elphinstone stampede happened.
Rs 51 crore
The cost of the project
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