Western Railway to move Bandra east booking office inwards

Moving the office will not only help in widening the existing road on the eastern side, but also decongest commuter crowd at the station

Western Railway to move Bandra east booking office inwards

To lessen congestion and make it easier for commuters to purchase tickets, the Western Railways has decided to demolish the existing booking office on the eastern side of Bandra station and shift it inwards. The move, part of their project to decongest the area, was kicked off two to three weeks ago.

Moving the office will not only help in widening the existing road on the eastern side, but also decongest commuter crowd at the station. The eastern end has seen an exponential rise in commuter numbers after business hub Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) came up, that has made a stampede-like situation an everyday affair.

(Top) The existing office which will be demolished soon and (above) The spot where the new office will be built

According to a survey conducted by the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation and Wilbur Smith, 4,91,106 passengers - the third-highest on WR - enter and exit Bandra station at any given time.

Senior railway officials confirmed they were removing the booking office and shifting it a bit westwards in the railway premise. The move will cost Rs 57 lakh. The new booking office will be spread out over an area of 10 m x 18 m, and would be connected to the old foot overbridge. The office will be located in the open space between the CSMT-bound Harbour line track and the fifth line. The project would be completed within six months, which means it will be ready by December. Tenders for the project open in May 2019.

New bridge almost completed
Meanwhile, the new bridge being built at the station is at an advanced stage of completion and will be ready before the monsoon. WR is building a 10 metre-wide bridge, which is about 102 metres long, at a cost of about Rs 8 crore. It will be directly connected to the skywalk and ease pressure on the existing, often crowded foot overbridge.

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