Thane: Why Badlapur station’s revamp is taking time

The new foot overbridge at Badlapur station

Here's why the upgrade of Badlapur station is taking time. While the home platform work is almost over, the station is now being developed as a two-deck one. However, work is expected to be complete soon. The railways have been working on the Badlapur station to convert the existing platform into a double discharge one by building a home platform. Officials said the standard length of the platform is 270 metres, of these about 90 m land belongs to the railways, another 95 metres to private parties. The private party land had been acquired earlier, but the remaining 85 m land was with the local civic body and there was a delay in acquiring it. There were also public utilities like auto stands and a few shops, whose operators/owners had put up opposition. Now that the originally planned work is in an advanced stage, the railways have embarked on converting the station into a two-deck one to cater to the increasing crowds.

The works at the station

Explaining the sequence of works at Badlapur, a Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) official said, "The Badlapur home platform and one 6 m wide foot overbridge construction was in progress under trespass control measures. The 6 m wide foot overbridge was completed and opened to the public on December 24, 2022. For construction of the home platform, local civic land was required. It was a long pending case and the hand over was delayed due to protests from rickshaw drivers who wanted to retain the rickshaw stand in the same location. After many meetings and help from local Member of Parliament Kapil Patil, the matter was settled, and the piece of land handed over to MRVC in November 2022."

Elevated deck, home platform

"Going by the increasing crowds, Patil requested to build an elevated deck over the home and island platforms. Foundation work for the same is in progress on the proposed home platform. For construction of the deck and home platform, some of the existing skywalk needs to be dismantled and the rest is to be modified to reduce its width. Permission for this was received from Kulgaon Badlapur Municipal Council only on May 8. Other enabling works like shifting of the booking office and modification in the middle foot overbridge are also in progress and will be completed by end of July. After completion of foundation work for the deck on the home platform, flooring will be done and then the home platform is likely to be opened by the end of August.

During the mid-day station audit in 2018, this newspaper had found the platform narrow with a lot of unnecessary elements, such as water kiosks, that took up space at Badlapur station. The station had no cover over platforms in the south end, resulting in people sitting at the base of the footbridge staircase, blocking it. The north-end of the station did not have a bridge. Following the report, the railways promised that the stations were in line for development. Both Badlapur and Ambernath stations had been highlighted during the railway board chairman's visit the same year.