Dadar station to be revamped for ease of commuter access

An artist’s impression of the revamped Dadar station

Dadar station - one of the busiest stations of Central and Western Railway - will now be integrated and developed into a single unit 15-platform station for suburban trains with an additional level for outstation trains! The outline plan, which envisages seamless movement of outstation and local commuters, has been fixed. "Around 5.5 lakh passengers visit Dadar station daily. Apart from catering to people coming from outside the city, it acts as a major node for local commuters. During the festive season of Ganesh Chaturthi or during any political rally and conclave, the passenger count crosses 8 lakh," a senior official said.

He explained, "Dadar railway station has a total of 15 platforms. The Western Railway side currently has seven platforms - two platforms for the slow suburban route, three platforms for the fast suburban route and the last two platforms are the terminus of the suburban and long-distance trains. The remaining eight platforms lie towards the Central Railway line, out of these three are on the slow suburban route, three on the fast suburban route, and the last two platforms are the terminus of long-distance trains which is also known as Dadar Central Terminus or Dadar Terminus. This railway station is well connected with multiple walkways and bridges for easier access of passengers crossing on both sides."

"Traffic congestion happens around the station area. Connectivity with the city through intermodal transit is on the way since the Mumbai Metro corridor project is also ongoing, monorails are already functional; these will further develop Dadar as a multimodal integrated hub which is connected by local and long-distance trains of Indian Railways, monorails, and Metro via public transport through roads," he added. Anil Kumar Lahoti, general manager of Central Railway, said, "Dadar station is one of the key stations with intense passenger movement. A dedicated plan has been chalked out to integrate and decongest the station complex for seamless movement of passengers."

The plan

The redevelopment of the station aims to distribute the passengers equally over the platforms and streamline pedestrian movement by widening as well as addition of foot overbidges, and another concourse level for long-distance passengers. Further, the entry to station along with drop-offs/pick-ups has been planned out with multiple accesses planned along Tilak bridge, Lakshmi Nappu Road and Senapati Bapat Marg to ease the congestion on existing entries. Segregation of arriving and departing passengers' movement is being proposed by dedicating separate arrival and departure blocks. A network of FOBs at Level-II is planned that are interconnected with each other for better accessibility to platforms. Directional segregation of passengers will also be achieved through the proposed system.

A separate concourse level at 12.75-m level from the platforms is also proposed on the north side of the station which will have direct access from Tilak bridge. This level will also be accessible internally from the FOB level. This is planned to minimise travel distance to the platforms catering to long-distance trains. Further, a roof is planned above the suburban platforms and FOBs, so that rainwater and direct sunlight don't enter the platform. The station shall be 100 per cent Divyang accessible and shall be developed on green building concept. Dadar shall be a smart station with a modern building management system integrated with CCTV and other systems. Commercial development shall be done above the concourse level over multiple floors so that facilities can be developed for passengers.

15
No. of platforms at Dadar of which WR has 7 and CR has 8