Oshiwara railway station to be ready in another two months; decks for land acquisition cleared by BMC
Mumbai's 'ghost' station set to finally spring to life
Work on the Oshiwara railway station began in 2007. Pic/ Nimesh Dave
The long-awaited ‘ghost’ Oshiwara railway station project is finally on track. The final hurdles were cleared by the BMC at a high-level coordination meeting on September 7 to get the incomplete station ready by November, and launch it as the Western Railway’s 37th station.
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Sources said the BMC has granted the remaining land that was needed for the station, which falls between Jogeshwari and Goregaon stations.
“At the meeting, we informed the railway minister and the government that the Oshiwara station shall be ready by November. We are waiting for the local municipal corporation to remove illegal structures that are in the way of the Andheri-Goregaon Harbour line, on which Oshiwara stands,” said a senior railway official.
“The BMC has promised to remove the encroachments soon after the monsoon. We are hoping to get this Harbour line ready till Goregaon by March 2017,” said Prabhat Ranjan, chief PRO, Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC).
The opening of the Mrinal Gore flyover above the Oshiwara station had set the ball rolling on its launch. mid-day had on May 2 quoted railway officials on the ‘ghost’ station, which has been on hold for years, being ready by November. Tenders for the station were called inJuly 2006, but work began in 2007.
The MRVC, which built the station, is now in the process of connecting a 20-m patch of a level crossing and buffer space to the station, for which the BMC’s permission was needed.
Sources said alternative rehabilitation will be offered to owners of a watchmaker shop, a one-storey bar and restaurant, and some eight structures between Andheri and Jogeshwari stations. The owners had approached the High Court against eviction for allow the Harbour line to be extended beyond andheri. Sources in the MRVC claimed that not all structures are legal.
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