The 200-page audit report of 36 stations was submitted on Friday night to the General Manager of WR, AK Gupta.
No parking on road next to the railway stations — this is what the audit report of Western Railway (WR), which chalks out improvement needed at railway stations, says. The report was commissioned after the Elphinstone Bridge tragedy. Railway officials say that they are looking at implementing this mainly in south Mumbai, namely at Churchgate, Marine Lines, Charni Road and Grant Road stations initially as these are heavily used during peak hours.
The 200-page audit report of 36 stations was submitted on Friday night to the General Manager of WR, AK Gupta.
As per its findings, the railway authorities want the Traffic Police to remove illegal parking from approach roads leading to the railway stations.
"We have identified that there are many vehicles, including taxis, parked on road. We want these removed so that there is no congestion outside the platforms," said a WR official.
WR authorities feel that these parked vehicles need to be properly aligned so that commuters can move unhindered.
As research, the railway officials looked at Google maps to generate actual images of the site, apart from photographs. They also spoke to various passenger associations, Divisional and Suburban Rail Users Consultative Committee, station masters and commuters. Suggestions of local MLAs, MPs and railway police staff were also incorporated.
The report mentions the FOBs that need extension, those that need to be joined with skywalks and areas where more skywalks are needed. They studied the flow of commuters on each and every staircase of a FOB connecting the entry/exit points to work out ways that the crowd can be be efficiently managed and distributed among different parts of a station with help of additional skywalks and FOBs.
"For instance at Bandra, we have decided to connect the south FOB with the skywalk and have started demolishing slums which are impeding the work," said another WR official. In the last two days, railway officials have demolished slums at Bandra (E), Andheri (W) and Vikhroli stations with help of police and BMC. The officials claim that after the Elphinstone Road stampede, there has been no interference from any political party who, for their vote bank politics, come and stall such demolitions.
Apart from this, the audit report has also stated the need for extending the cover over the platforms to cover its entire length. Currently, only rusted poles exist at many stations; roofs have not been laid. This causes problems especially during monsoon when people pile up at a particular location for shelter.
The railways will also be demolishing toilet blocks that are barely used and relocate them. Water pyaus will also be relocated or their dimensions reduced to make more space.
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