Kalwa car shed barricaded as Central Railway pushes wall, FOB construction

The ageold albeit illegal practice of boarding empty local trains from the rail car shed at Kalwa station will come to an end as the road outside the facility is being blocked and barricaded as part of Central Railwayrsquos CR efforts to build a massive wall and foot overbridge FOBWhile thousands of commuters would board empty trains that departed from the car shed for Thane from where they originate officially Thane commuters used to complain that coaches would already be full when the trains arrived from the shed despite them originating from Thane on papermidday highlighted in February 2025 the plight of Kalwa commuters attempting to board the train during the morning rush hour with several either getting in an empty car shed train or taking an auto all the way to Thane spending R40 to R45 per day or simply waiting it outBricks for the massive wall planned at Kalwa railway stationIn 2022 fights and protests over AC and nonAC services had also led to a rail roko at the Kalwa car shed gate by commuters who used to board the train from thereWhat is being plannedThe plan is to build an FOB linked to the existing bridge at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus CSMT end of the station This bridge will run parallel to the station for some distance then cross over the car shed tracks and land in the west near the auto stand This will eliminate the need to cross the tracks to enter the station Parallely the old road is being in the process of walled up and will be completely sealed once the FOB is commissioned for the publicGirders of the foot overbridge that will cross over the Kalwa car shed tracks and land near an autorickshaw stand in the west PicsRajendra B AklekarWhat is the statusWhen midday visited the station on Friday work on most of the pillars of the FOB seemed complete and girders had been placed on the stretch of the bridge parallel to the station Work on the wall had also been done and it was being kept in readinesslsquoPractical solutions neededrsquoA commuter Deepak Dubey said the core issue was not being addressed ldquoThe Railways should devise a logical and sustainable solution to enable trains from the Kalwa car shed to originate directly from Kalwa station rather than dispatching empty rakes to Thane This current practice adds unnecessary pressure on suburban passengers particularly those from Kalwa who are already dealing with high commuter volumes Moreover the recent move to erect walls and prevent commuters from boarding trains at the Kalwa car shed despite it being a longstanding informal practice does not address the core issue Trains arriving from Karjat Kasara Khopoli Badlapur Titwala and Kalyan typically witness significant passenger offboarding at Thane thereby creating adequate capacity for new passengers Given its scale and resources the Railways should focus on implementing practical commuterfriendly solutions rather than resorting to arbitrary restrictions that lack a rationale and fail to serve the needs of daily travellersrdquoAnother commuter Gandharva Purohit said ldquoThis was inevitable The practice of boarding from the car shed line was one of the reasons CR had to roll back AC train schedules linked with 820 am CSMT fast from Thane the other day If the CR is providing the necessary infrastructure to access the platform Kalwa residents can adjust their commutes accordinglyrdquoDeepak Dubey commuter Gandharva Purohit commuter Siddhesh Desai vicepresident MRPS Madhu Kotian passenger activistlsquoKalwa commuters frustratedrsquoSiddhesh Desai vicepresident of the Mumbai Rail Pravasi Sangh MRPS one of the oldest and biggest passenger associations said ldquoKalwa commuters are frustrated because currently the only way to catch the train is via the car shed If this is prevented there will be no option left for them in the morning We already had multiple meetings and a joint survey was conducted with Railway officials and MRPS members I was a part of it that time The possibility of Parsik station and car shed trains initiating from a newly proposed station was positively checked Even an extended platform towards Kalwa station at the Thane end was suggested from where commuters can board trains Let us see how they take it aheadrdquoldquoIt is good from a safety point of view but it does not address the problem of Kalwa residents The Railways should address the issue of increasing services from Kalwa stationrdquo passenger activist Madhu Kotian saidSpawning of new problemsldquoIt does not make sense for us to continue boarding the train at Kalwa station as it will now get more crowded The only option left for us is to enter the train at Thane as we might get empty compartmentsrdquo commuter Lokesh Varma saidldquoAll this will now lead to a hole in our pocket and congestion on the road to Thane station as many Kalwa commuters will now prefer to travel via share autos to Thane to catch trains in the morning The ideal way would be to halt a few fast trains at Kalwa and rescue usrdquo Diwakar Mandal another commuter saidldquoThere are two types of Thane locals one that comes from CSMT and returnsThe other is the empty one that will come from the car shed Now crowding will increase at Thane station The need of the hour is to increase nonAC train servicesrdquo Akshata Dhanavade a commuter saidRanjeet Belwale another commuter said ldquoWith more and more Kalwa commuters coming to Thane station there will be congestion and other problems There are other commuters who return from Mulund and occupy seats in trains coming from CSMTrdquoatOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params