Mumbai: Andheri station gets 110-metre-long crowd-buster skywalk

The skywalk at Andheri station will provide east-west connectivity with staircase to platform Nos. 8/9 and 6/7

A new 110-metre-long footbridge linked to another one, both collectively running up to 202 metres, was opened for public at Andheri station on Thursday. The skywalk with six staircases promises to ease commuting once life leaps back to normalcy in the city.

The station has been seeing a surge in crowds ever since it became a junction of the Mumbai Metro Line 1. In pre-COVID days, officials said, Andheri had a commuter footfall of 7 lakh during rush hours.

Work on the 6-metre-wide skywalk began in July 2020 and was completed on March 31. It has cost the railways R6.5 crore. "Linked to the new south-end foot over bridge at Andheri, the skywalk will provide an east-west connectivity with staircase to platform Nos. 8/9 and Platform Nos. 6/7," said an official.

It has been joined with the 92-metre-long south foot overbridge that was commissioned in June 2020. "This new skywalk will be of great help for faster dispersal of commuters to east side from platform Nos. 8/9 during peak hours, about which there had been several complaints of overcrowding," added the official.

The new overpass is part of a station decongestion programme by the Western Railway under which authorities have been upgrading infrastructure amid the pandemic. During 2020-21, they commissioned 14 new foot overbridges and two new skywalks. Meanwhile, work on more FoBs and installation of escalators is progressing.

Apart from the Andheri bridge, the Western Railways has also built FoBs, skywalk and road bridges between Andheri-Jogeshwari (BMC east-west bridge), and at Marine Lines (Virar-end), Malad (BMC east-west skywalk) and Vasai Road- Nallasopara (old road over bridge).