Mumbai: 15 stations on Central Railway to get vertical gardens this year

Vertical garden (Representational pic)

The Central Railway announced this week that they would set up vertical garden walls at 15 stations in yet another effort to improve aesthetics. The plan is to cover stations on both the main and the harbour lines with ornamental plants that would be maintained.

The railway stations identified for these vertical gardens are Vidyavihar, Sandhurst Road, Wadala, Kurla, Parel, Matunga, Diva, Mumbra, Shahad, Titwala, Igatpuri, Chinchpokli, Kanjurmarg, Vikhroli and Byculla. Once the contract is awarded, the gardens shall be developed within 12 months at a cost of around R14.72 crore. "The beautification is a part of the Amrit Bharat Station upgrade scheme that was announced earlier this year," said an official.

Subhajit Mukherjee, Majhi Vasundhara ambassador

"It is a very good move. Vertical gardens play a crucial role in an urban landscape like Mumbai where we face a shortage of land space for planting trees. We have the advantage of shortlisting specific important trees which are needed in Mumbai and can easily survive in a small space," Subhajit Mukherjee, known as the ‘Green Man of Mumbai', said. Mukherjee is an ambassador of Majhi Vasundhara which has planted more than 60,000 trees under his Mission Green Mumbai initiative.

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According to Mukherjee, a combination of plants which can attract birds, butterflies and bees would also help in cross-pollination. "Vertical gardens take comparatively very less space and can fit into any kind of shape and structure. One of their biggest advantages is water conservation as they maintain the moisture of the area and the surface temperature of buildings and surroundings by controlling the urban heat island effect caused by concreting," he said, adding that the gardens also act as sound barriers.

Parallelly, CR has also planned to plant saplings of ornamental bushes and trees at more than 100 locations around 40 suburban and non-suburban stations in the city where land is available. The idea is not just to beautify the area, but also to save the land from encroachments.

For this, the CR authorities have approached NGOs, social organisations and corporates to beautify railway lands.