Central Railway sets a target of 288 escalators by March 2019

Central Railway authorities will undertake preparatory work for many of the 214 escalators during monsoons.

Central Railway authorities will undertake preparatory work for many of the 214 escalators during monsoons.  

Every suburban station in Mumbai to have at least one pair of escalators by next year

Mumbai: By this time next year, Central Railway (CR) aims to have 288 escalators across its stations in the Mumbai Division. In the first phase, CR plans to commission 40 escalators before June. At present there are 34 escalators in the Mumbai Division.

“We are almost ready with most of the escalators. We need to conduct some tests before commissioning, which should be over before the monsoons. We have kept a target of 214 escalators by March 2019,” Divisional Regional Manager (CR), S.K. Jain said.

CR authorities will undertake preparatory work for many of the 214 escalators during monsoons. “We will take those locations on priority where there are already existing Foot Over Bridges (FOB) and there are no issues of landing. Where we need to break the landing, we will commence the work post monsoons,” Mr. Jain said. According to a railway official, CR has identified 93 feasible locations for escalators on existing FOBs in the suburban section. It has also identified possible locations for 16 escalators on FOBs currently under construction and locations for 49 and 56 escalators on FOBs that will be executed by Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC) and CR respectively. CR will also be installing escalators in pairs wherever possible, which includes one ascending and one descending. According to a senior railway official in the 40 that will be installed pre-monsoon, escalators at Dadar, Ghatkopar, Kalyan, Byculla, Chembur will have one pair of escalators as well as the one being installed at platform No 18 at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and at two locations at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT). The official added that going ahead, wherever possible the Railways will have escalators in pairs. Mr. Jain said that every station on the suburban section will have at least one pair of escalators by March 2019.

The Railways has made it mandatory for escalators to be part every station in the aftermath of the Elphinstone Road stampede, which claimed the lives of 27 people. During the last budget it was announced that all stations with footfall of over 25,000 will get an escalator.