Come July, extra platform to ease Parel commuter rush

Here’s some good news for local train commuters who board or alight at Central Railway’s Parel station. From July onwards, slow trains headed in the northern direction (towards Dadar and beyond) will get a new platform to halt at. Central Railway has built a new platform for slow trains in the northern direction in order to decongest Parel station.

Currently, slow trains halt at platforms 1-2 which cater to slow trains in both directions. When trains pull into platform 1-2 at Parel at the same time, it leads to severe overcrowding.

The staircase at the CSMT-end foot over-bridge that provides interchange facility for Elphinstone Road station on the Western Railway is also extremely narrow which makes dispersal slow, thus increasing the risk of a stampede.


A senior Central Railway official said, “The new platform will be ready by the end of this month. However, we will have to do some work before passengers can board or alight from this platform. We hope to commission the new platform in July.”

The official said that the slow track for trains moving towards Dadar will be shifted slightly towards the west (where the new platform is being made ready) so that the track is right beside the new platform. “We will have to take a block for a few hours to shift the track and to align the overhead wires,” said the official.

Once the new platform is ready for use, boarding and alighting from the existing platform 1 will blocked for a few days, said the official. This is because the width of platform 1 -2 will be widened towards the west. “So, the current platform 1 which is 8 metres wide will be extended by 2 metres. Its new width will be 10 metres.”

Once the width of the current platform 1 is extended, commuters will be able to board and alight slow trains towards Kalyanfrom both side. “They can get in and out from the new platform or the current platform 1 which will be extended,” said the official, adding that it will help distribute crowds between the new and old platform.

Railways have also focused their attention on the Parel-Elphinstone Road station after 23 people lost their lives in a stampede that took place at Elphinstone Road on September 29 last year .

Besides, Central Railway is constructing a foot overbridge which will connect to Western Railway’s foot overbridge which is under construction.

The railway official said that once platform 1-2 is widened, the authorities will be able to commence work on building the landing of the foot over-bridge. “As of now, the width is too little which prohibits us from carrying out this work,” said the official.

Once the landing work is completed, Parel will have three foot over-bridges—one at the CSMT end, another with its landing at the middle of the platform and the thirdbuilt by the Army. The Army has constructed a 73.1-metre bridge connecting Parel station to the exit towards Tulsi Pipe Road. This bridge was thrown open on Febraury 27.