Mumbai: CM Eknath Shinde gives nod for crowd control scheme at Ambernath station

A crowded Ambernath station

A week after mid-day pushed for Station Area Traffic Improvement Scheme (SATIS) outside the Bandra and Kurla railway stations, the Maharashtra chief minister on Thursday approved a Rs 81.53 crore SATIS outside the crowded Ambernath station.

It was during a station audit series done three years ago that mid-day had highlighted issues at Ambernath station. Following this, the railways had begun work on improving the station layout internally. The SATIS will now lead to improvement of the overall surroundings around the station premises.

SATIS is basically all about mass dispersal of passengers outside the station. The stations tend to get crowded with every train arriving and hence this comprehensive plan was mooted to decongest this traffic. It includes development of everything around the station to facilitate quick and uncluttered movement.

The Ambernath station sees a daily footfall of about 2 lakh

The project was sanctioned in the 153rd meeting of the MMRDA held at Mantralaya on Thursday. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is implementing the Extended Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project (MUIP) in the jurisdiction of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) is spread over 6,328 sq. km. and consists of nine municipal corporations viz. Greater Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli, Navi Mumbai, Ulhasnagar, Bhiwandi-Nizampur, Vasai-Virar, Mira-Bhayandar and Panvel; and nine municipal councils viz. Ambernath, Kulgaon-Badalapur, Matheran, Karjat, Khopoli, Pen, Uran, Alibaug and Palghar, along with more than 1,000 villages in Thane, Raigad and Palghar districts. MMRDA is responsible for the balanced development of the MMR.

Also Read: Mumbai: How crowding at Bandra and Kurla stations can be fixed

"This is really a Diwali gift for Ambernath residents and commuters. The station area will get decongested. MMRDA will be developing parking facilities [SATIS] on the reserved land east and west of the station premises. We thank Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for this project," said former Ambernath Municipal Council president Sunil Choudhari.

Issues with the stations

During the station audit done by mid-day, the focus was on two stations in MMR beyond Kalyan on Central Railway, that is Ambernath and Badlapur. It found inadequate footover bridges, crowding and too many unnecessary elements on platforms.

At Ambernath in particular, the wide foot overbridge in the south (CSMT-end) was little used, while the one at the north end, which was very narrow, saw extensive crowding. There was more pressure on this bridge as it is connected to the east-west skywalk. mid-day had suggested that the railways need to have a wider bridge to ease problems, which the railways are now in last stages of completion along with an additional platform.

After this the Central Railway had taken up work on the new wider bridges and platform and eased the problem. Now with this project of SATIS approved, the area around the railway station will get upgraded.

Bridge work troubles

For the past few days, commuters at Ambernath have been inconvenienced due to the work on the ongoing Karjat-end bridge.

"Commuters are inconvenienced at all times of the day. We request Central Railway to expedite the work of Karjat side bridge and finish it soon. We hope that nobody gets hurt in this daily chaos," appealed the Ambernath Citizens' Forum.

"It's high time to increase trains from Badlapur to CSMT. There is too much rush in peak hour from 8.45 am to 9.30 am. The population in Ambarnath, Badlapur, Ulhasnagar has increased multifold but number of local trains is still the same. We request additional trains to and from Badlapur," local commuter Nilesh Chopra said.

"Two bridges, one at the Mumbai CSMT-end and the one in the middle of the platform are new bridges and functional, and the one at Karjat-end which was heavily used is under works. The tiles on the Karjat-end civic bridge are also being replaced. There are plans to complete it as early as possible," a CR spokesperson said.