Projects launched to facilitate Mumbai's local train commuters

New Delhi: Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today inaugurated several projects, including foot overbridges and escalators, to make travel more pleasurable for the over 75 lakh daily commuters on Mumbai's local trains.

"Our focus is on improving passenger experience. Through these measures, we have fulfilled the long-standing demand of the commuters," he said after inaugurating the projects through video-conferencing at the Rail Bhavan here.

At Borivali, a key railway station for Mumbai's commuters, a 300-metre-long and 10.5-metre-wide elevated deck has been built on platform number one, which connects all the five foot overbridges as well as the skywalk.

The south end of the deck has a ticket booking office. An elevator has also been installed on platform number one, which connects to the deck, keeping in mind the problems faced by senior citizens and differently-abled persons.

New foot overbridges have been built at Dadar, Matunga Road and Bhayandar stations. Escalators have also been installed at Dadar, Bhayandar, Vasai Road and Nalasopara stations.

The six-metre-wide and 200-metre-long foot overbridge near Tilak Road Bridge at the north end of Dadar station connects Tilak Bridge, platform numbers 1, 2 and 3 of the Indian Railways and platform numbers 3 to 8 of the Central Railway.

A new ticket booking office has been opened at the north end of platform number one at Kandivali station. At Vasai Road station, a ticket booking counter has been opened on the elevated deck.

The Railway Ministry has also decided to build new toilet blocks at Goregaon and Kandivali stations.

To facilitate interchange as well as connectivity for metro and suburban railway passengers, an 80-metre-long and 6.6-metre-wide skywalk has come up at Andheri station.

The Mumbai Suburban Railway is spread over 465 kilometres and operates 2,342 trains on a daily basis.