If you thought MMR stations were bad, take a ticket for what lies beyond Kalyan - housing projects by the dozen, rly stations still archaic with infrastructure woefully inadequate even for existing residents, forget incoming crowd
Mumbai is choked and overflowing, with people, besides filth. And so, the real estate action has shifted to areas beyond Kalyan with nearly all builders basing the distance to the nearest railway station as the main selling point of their new housing projects.
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But since when have our stations been able to boast of anything, other than persistent problems? The issue with the railways here is that there are just two lines to cater to the enormous crowd moving to the outskirts, and the same two lines ferry outstation as well as freight trains.
Beyond Kalyan, the line splits into two - one to Kasara in the northeast and the other to Karjat-Khopoli in the southeast. The frequency of trains along these lines is very low. Passenger growth has been more in areas immediately after Kalyan - Shahad, Vithalwadi, Ulhasnagar and Ambivli.
"These stations are choc-a-bloc during peak hours and the limited number of trains makes matters worse. The railways should think of starting shuttle or Mainline Electric Multiple Unit trains for faster passenger dispersal," said Aloknath Chainji, a regular commuter.
A resident of the area, Dr Pradeep Galgaokar, said, "The big problem in these areas is the bad road connectivity. If trains are down, everything is down. It is high time the state government developed proper road infrastructure here… an alternative and dependable public transport network, other than railways, is desperately needed."
mid-day visited four stations that have seen passenger growth and need better infrastructure, but pretty much all are crying for an upgrade.
Lack of a foot overbridge at the south end of the station leads to crowding at the north one here
Asangaon
Here, for a change, the platform is wide and spacious. But there is no foot overbridge at the south end. A new one being built in the centre of the station will be of help if finished fast, but it too doesn't have connectivity to the east. The main problem here is the low frequency of trains, leading to a lot of waiting time. "We want a few mail/express trains to halt here, so that we could get in them. Or increase the number of Asangaon locals," said Surekha Gosavi, another commuter.
The north FOB sees more crowd as it connects to the skywalk
Ambernath
This one has only three platforms. The wide foot overbridge in the south (CSMT-end) is little used, while the one at the north end, which is anyway narrow, sees more crowd. There is more pressure on this bridge as it is connected to the east-west skywalk. The railways needs to replace this with a 12-m-wide skywalk to ease problems. "You should see the crowd on this narrow bridge during rush hour. It is quite suffocating and leads to a stampede-like situation," said Sumit Jaiswal, a commuter.
The problems at this station can be solved with simple upgrades; all that's needed is will of the authorities
Badlapur
The platform here is narrow and has a lot of unnecessary elements, such as water kiosks, that take up space. The station has no cover over platforms in the south end, resulting in people sitting at the base of the FOB staircase, blocking it. The north end of the station doesn't have a bridge at all.
Work to widen the narrow FOB hasn’t progressed at all
Titwala
The station here has just one foot overbridge, that too narrow. Work was started to widen it but doesn't seem to have progressed. Another major problem is the huge gap between the train and platform one. The station needs a bridge at the north end as most people cross tracks to get to that side. The crowds here are not just office-goers, but also visitors at the Titwala Ganpati temple. Besides this, new housing projects are adding to the population pressure.
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