Let’s meet officials halfway on upkeep of the railways

Ongoing platform widening work at Dadar station

Central Railway (CR) said decongesting stations and speeding up local trains would be the priorities in Mumbai and that commuters can expect quite a few developments in 2024. There are several plans with a focus on safety, mobility improvements, passenger amenities and infrastructure work.

There will also be added measures against trespassing and platform decongestion. The idea is to speed up local trains in Mumbai on the harbour, trans-harbour and Khopoli lines.

For decongestion, there is a plan to widen existing platforms with the work on Dadar platform no. 8 completed and a dual discharge platform planned for platform no. 10/11. At Kalyan, the service building on platform no. 4/5 has been dismantled and at Thane, the widening of platform no. 5/6 by dismantling a foot-over bridge has been planned, a report said in this paper. Other plans include shifting of vending stalls.

This is just a thumbnail sketch of several overhauls and new measures announced by the facility, to make the lifeline less of a strife line in Mumbai. The commuters now need to do their bit too. Keep platforms clean. This automatically means not hurling dirt and rubbish on the tracks either. Use the bins or stow away rubbish till you find a disposal place.

Keep discipline uppermost and start changing the free-for-all scenarios in trains. While this may seem Utopian to those who ride during rush hour, it can be done with some willpower from the commuters themselves. If and when possible, do queue up in fact, it will ensure hassle-free, smoother and surprisingly faster entry and exits from trains. Use foot overbridges and do not hare across tracks. Avoid hanging out of trains. We must do our bit too.