Even as Palghar prepares to make room for the country's first bullet train, road infrastructure in several parts of the region continues to suffer neglect. For decades, the 2,000-odd residents of the villages of Vadhiv and Saravali in the district have been forced to walk through dirt roads and cross dangerous railway bridges, built over Vaitarna river, to reach the nearest railway station. Four people have died since March this year, after accidentally falling into the river, while attempting to cross the tracks on these bridges. The villagers are now demanding better road connectivity and a foot-over bridge to prevent any more casualties.

Vadhiv and Saravali are situated between Vaitarna and Safale railway stations, but there is no road to connect them to either of these stations. While Safale is nearly 10 km from the villages, Vaitarna station is 3.4 km away. In both the cases, it's only possible to reach the stations after crossing a 400m-stretch on the bridge—in this scenario, two separate railway bridges—built over the river.