80 new escalators, 50 lifts at Mumbai stations by 2022: Central Railway chief

Additional facilities like FOBs and lifts will make commuter movement on stations much more convenient. File/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Passenger amenities including escalators, lifts and foot overbridges on the city's suburban network will double in a year given the budget allocations and works lined up, CR's General Manager Sanjeev Mittal said on Friday.

CR's General Manager Sanjeev Mittal

Elaborating on facilities for commuters, Mittal said 80 escalators and 50 lifts will be installed at Mumbai's suburban stations by 2022. Presently, 76 escalators and 40 lifts are available on these premises.

The senior Central Railway official said 15 new FOBs will be constructed at stations across the city. The railways has been focussing on increasing the number of escalators, lifts and FOBs after the railway ministry began considering them as safety items following the Elphinstone Road station stampede that claimed nearly 30 people in 2017.

The facilities will be added to important stations like CSMT, Dadar, Ghatkopar, Kurla, Sandhurst Road, Parel, Sion, Tilak Nagar, Chembur, Mankhurd, Panvel and Nerul railway, said the official, adding that they will make movement on the premises much more convenient.

Mittal said that the lessons from lockdown learnt by railways will help them go a long way and one such example was the development of a Human Resource Management System module. It is a move to improve efficiency and productivity of the Railway system. Inside the ecosystem, every file is available online so one does not need to stack physical files.

"I can monitor and sign files digitally and this helped a lot in COVID-19 times to keep the works going. But the system developed will now remain in place as a permanent feature," Mittal said.

Full restoration of services
Mittal said they are closely monitoring the number of passengers on the suburban network since the local train services have been thrown open to all. He said the services would be restored to 100 per cent as ridership increases.

76
No. of escalators at Mumbai's suburban stations at present

40
No. of lifts currently operational at city's rail stations