To ensure passenger safety, Railway Ministry decides to revamp Mumbai suburban platforms

Good news for Mumbai suburban railway passengers! In a bid to maximize safety of railway passengers and railway users of Mumbai suburban railways, Piyush Goyal-led Railway Ministry has decided to renovate platforms across all Mumbai suburban railway stations. The work of raising 421 platforms across Central and Western Railway suburban sections, started in year 2015, and till now 344 platforms have been raised already. Meanwhile, the Railway Ministry has targeted July 2018, for the completion of the overall development. According to Railway Ministry, there was a scope to raise 269 platforms out of 276 suburban platforms from 840 mm to 900 mm, across Central Railways. However, till now, 201 suburban platforms have been raised upto 900 mm. The Ministry also says that the work is under progress for raising the remaining 68 suburban platforms, which are within the revised Schedule of Dimension of 840-900 mm. Also, 3 out of the 7 remaining platforms are redundant and are being demolished. Also, 4 of Parel will be raised along with the development of Parel Terminus.

According to the Railway Ministry, in the month of January, the work was taken up to raise platforms from 840 mm to 900 mm, for 145 railway stations across Western Railways. So far, the work of raising platforms has been completed for 143 platforms while the work for raising the other 2 platforms is till under progress. The Railway Ministry also claimed that the remaining work for the 2 platforms will be completed by the month of April, this year.

According to the Railway Ministry, there are certain benefits of having raised platforms. One is, with the establishment of a raised platform, the gap between the footboard and the platforms is reduced, therefore, it becomes easy for railway passengers in alighting and boarding the train. In addition to this, having raised platforms is also beneficial for people with disability, as it makes their travel more easy and comfortable.

The work for raising 344 platforms has been carried out against all the odds and obstacles, claimed Railway Ministry. One of the major challenging factor, which was faced while raising the platforms was the running of suburban trains with heavy passenger traffic on Mumbai suburban railway network. Therefore, due to this reason, the work was carried out in 2-3 hours which were available during mid night, keeping safety and convenience of passengers in mind.