Mumbai: Western Railway has plan in place to reduce traffic at Malad

Commuters at Malad station wait to access the foot overbridge

A wider double staircase, an additional platform, a change of halt patterns to avoid decongestion and more bridge landings along with an elevated deck will be introduced at Malad station to disperse crowds. "The biggest addition will be a home platform on the Malad West side, planned for immediate dispersal of the crowd during peak hours," a Western Railway (WR) spokesperson said.

"We have taken note of the problem of congestion on the north-end foot over bridge (FoB) and to counter that, we are building a double discharge staircase and escalator on the same bridge so that the crowd will be dispersed," he said.

"In addition to this, the width of the north side staircase landing of the middle FoB will also be increased from 1.65 m to 3.15 m. Work is also under progress to provide additional staircase landings at the south side (Churchgate-end) of the middle FOB connecting with the elevated deck being built here. Separate stop boards have also been provided for 12 coach and 15 coach suburban trains to disperse the crowd on the platform," he added.

According to the spokesperson, rail authorities have also deployed RPF personnel to properly manage the crowd and provided temporary queue separation barricades. In a first-of-its-kind mega rail surgery at Malad, all five Western Railway lines shifted westwards after the insertion of a new sixth line. The platform changes happened as a part of the ongoing 6th line project. A brand new 4.5 km stretch of rail line has been laid between Goregaon and Kandivali in a month's time.

22-hour Kasara pause

Eight suburban trains will be cancelled and 22 short-terminated as the Central Railway (Mumbai Division) will operate special traffic and power blocks for non-interlocking works at Kasara station for extension and widening of platform no. 1 and the extension of three reception and dispatch lines in the down yard. The works have been planned for 22 hours, from 3.20 am on October 20 (Sunday) to 1.20 am on October 21 (Monday).