'Snag in just one train leads to stampede-like situation at Ghatkopar station'

The railway foot overbridge connecting Ghatkopar railway and Metro station exploded with crowds on Wednesday after a Metro service was cancelled due to airconditioning issues during morning rush hours The service disruption led to crowds spilling onto the FoB affecting movement Filmmaker Omkar Shetty who took photos of the crowd said ldquoSoon this bridge wonrsquot be enough for the long queues for Metrordquo Commuters said the upgradation work of the station should be fasttrackedldquoThere was a scary crowd at Ghatkopar Metro this morning and it was all mixed up with the rush hour crowd of local trains The station improvement and upgrade need to happen fastrdquo commuter Rashmi Udanwat saidA crowded Ghatkopar station on Wednesday morning PicAwali VlogsGhatkopar resident Nilay Doshi said that the authorities should have foreseen this situation but had failed to do it ldquoThey are now rushing to redevelop the station with an upper deck but the work is still in its nascent stage Such massive crowds will lead to a stampede one dayrdquo he addedMumbai Metro One spokesperson confirmed that there was a snag in the morning ldquoYes due to insufficient cooling one train was withdrawn from service For the safety of commuters security checks and ticketing were regulated resulting in queuing at the concourse We sincerely regret the inconveniencerdquo a statement saidAlso read Mumbai Hawkandscoot gang takes over Ghatkopar tooStation upgradeGhatkopar has been an important junction station since it sees a large number of footfalls due to integration of Mumbai Metro Line 1 with the railway station midday had in its report lsquoNext Disaster Arriving on Platform No1rsquo on August 30 2019 stated how Ghatkopar station had become a death trap Following this local MP from Mumbai Northeast Manoj Kotak had followed up the issue with the then Railway Minister Piyush GoyalGoyal at a public function on September 13 2019 had directed railway officials to come up with an elaborate plan and upgrade the stationThe work is being done by Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation MRVC The new station with elevated decks should be ready in about three yearsA senior MRVC official said working on Ghatkopar station has been a challenge due to intensive crowding and constant movement of passengers and trains Given the fact that there is no immediate space even outside the station placing and working with heavy equipment has been a problem with limited head roomAs per the plan Ghatkopar station which sees around 193 lakh commuters and an average footfall of around 387 lakh commuters daily is now getting a massive sevenpoint upgrade with three new 12metre foot bridges all linked by an elevated deck for seamless connectivityLocal MP Manoj Kotak who met the divisional railway manager Rajnish Goyal last week also asked him to expedite work on the Ghatkopar station elevated deckNeed more coachesAmid the crowding there have been calls for increasing the number of Metro coaches from the existing four to six The Blue Line Mumbai Metro Line1 was originally planned and conceived to ferry sixcar trains hence the conversion should not be difficult as the basic infrastructure and amenities are already in placeCurrently fourcoach trains can ferry 1178 passengers which will increase to 1792 if two more coaches are addedldquoWe have been taking note of good ridership numbers in the last one year on the Metro Line 1 Also taking into account trial runs of Lines 2A and 7 which have endpoints at Andheri adjoining Line 1 the ridership for Blue Line 1 is also set to increase Hence it would be prudent to act for future expansion of ridership numbers by increasing the capacity from four to six coaches to accommodate the increased numbersrdquo said Dhaval Shah from Andheri Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizens Association387LApprox footfall at Ghatkopar station daily