Mumbai: Snag in just one train leads to stampede-like situation at Ghatkopar station, commuters jittery

Metro commuters crowd the FoB at Ghatkopar station, on Wednesday. Pic/Omkar Shetty

The railway foot overbridge connecting Ghatkopar railway and Metro station exploded with crowds on Wednesday after a Metro service was cancelled due to air-conditioning issues during morning rush hours. The service disruption led to crowds spilling onto the FoB, affecting movement. Filmmaker Omkar Shetty, who took photos of the crowd, said, "Soon, this bridge won't be enough for the long queues for Metro." Commuters said the upgradation work of the station should be fast-tracked.

"There was a scary crowd at Ghatkopar [Metro] this morning and it was all mixed up with the rush hour crowd of local trains. The station improvement and upgrade need to happen fast," commuter Rashmi Udanwat said.

A crowded Ghatkopar station on Wednesday morning. Pic/Awali Vlogs

Ghatkopar resident Nilay Doshi said that the authorities should have foreseen this situation but had failed to do it. "They are now rushing to redevelop the station with an upper deck, but the work is still in its nascent stage. Such massive crowds will lead to a stampede one day," he added.

Mumbai Metro One spokesperson confirmed that there was a snag in the morning. "Yes, due to insufficient cooling, one train was withdrawn from service. For the safety of commuters, security checks and ticketing were regulated, resulting in queuing at the concourse. We sincerely regret the inconvenience," a statement said.

Also read: Mumbai: Hawk-and-scoot gang takes over Ghatkopar, too

Station upgrade

Ghatkopar has been an important junction station since it sees a large number of footfalls due to integration of Mumbai Metro Line 1 with the railway station. mid-day had in its report ‘Next Disaster Arriving on Platform No.1' on August 30, 2019 stated how Ghatkopar station had become a death trap. Following this, local MP from Mumbai Northeast Manoj Kotak had followed up the issue with the then Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.

Goyal at a public function on September 13, 2019 had directed railway officials to come up with an elaborate plan and upgrade the station. The work is being done by Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC). The new station with elevated decks should be ready in about three years. A senior MRVC official said working on Ghatkopar station has been a challenge due to intensive crowding and constant movement of passengers and trains. Given the fact that there is no immediate space even outside the station, placing and working with heavy equipment has been a problem with limited head room.

As per the plan, Ghatkopar station, which sees around 1.93 lakh commuters and an average footfall of around 3.87 lakh commuters daily, is now getting a massive seven-point upgrade with three new 12-metre foot bridges, all linked by an elevated deck for seamless connectivity. Local MP Manoj Kotak, who met the divisional railway manager Rajnish Goyal last week, also asked him to expedite work on the Ghatkopar station elevated deck.

Need more coaches

Amid the crowding, there have been calls for increasing the number of Metro coaches from the existing four to six. The Blue Line Mumbai Metro Line-1 was originally planned and conceived to ferry six-car trains, hence the conversion should not be difficult as the basic infrastructure and amenities are already in place. Currently, four-coach trains can ferry 1,178 passengers, which will increase to 1,792 if two more coaches are added.

"We have been taking note of good ridership numbers in the last one year on the Metro Line 1. Also taking into account trial runs of Lines 2A and 7 which have endpoints at Andheri, adjoining Line 1, the ridership for Blue Line 1 is also set to increase. Hence, it would be prudent to act for future expansion of ridership numbers by increasing the capacity from four to six coaches to accommodate the increased numbers," said Dhaval Shah from Andheri Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizens Association.

3.87L
Approx footfall at Ghatkopar station daily