Mumbai: The platforms of the major suburban stations in the city will soon have more space for local commuters of the Central Railways Mumbai Division. One of the first priorities of the newly hired divisional railway manager of central railway Mumbai division is to relieve congestion on the platforms of city train stations and to simplify mobile ticketing systems.
After being appointed Divisional Manager of Central Railway's Mumbai Division last month, Rajnish Kumar Goyal made the decision to decongest all prominent stations with congested platforms in order to ensure that customers may move about the platforms without incident.
He made the decision to clear Kalyan Railway Station's platforms two and three, as well as Thane's platforms five and six, in the initial phase. These platforms, which handle hundreds of trains each day, are thought to be the busiest in the suburban areas. In addition, he is striving to clear some of Dadar station's crowded platforms.
Platforms of the few stations are quite congested
On Thursday, Rajnish Kumar Goyal stated, "After taking responsibility of DRM, I visited Thane Kalyan and other stations of suburbs and observed platforms of the few stations are quite congested and need to be decongested."
In addition, we are trying to widen platform numbers 5–6 at Thane Station in addition to considering the relocation of food stands there. Most likely, this project will be finished by March 2023.
For immediate relief, 18 pairs of long distance trains have already been moved to other platforms, and ten pairs more long distance trains currently handled on platforms number 5-6 of Thane station will be shifted at platforms number 7-8 soon to make room for suburban passengers, according to Goyal. "More than 300 trains daily are handled by CR including long distance and suburban trains," Goyal said.
Move offices to give more space to commuters
Speaking of the decongestion of Kalyan's platforms 2-3, he said, "Right now, there are only a few railway offices; very soon, we will move those offices and space to give more space to commuters." In addition, clearing out clogged platforms at Dader and other overcrowded stations is high on DRM's priority list.
When asked about the trends in suburban ticketing, he responded, "Railroad boards were written for some convenience in the UTS system to make it more user pleasant. Currently, more than 7% of suburban passengers use mobile ticketing devices.
Additionally, the obsolete machines of the suburane area will be replaced by 300 new ATVMs. CR's Mumbai division now has 626 machines in good condition, in addition to 318 older machines lying at various stations, which are obsolete and will be replaced by new machines in the future.
Rajnish Kumar Goyal has extensive and rich railroad expertise working in numerous Zonal Railways in a variety of positions. He began his railroad career as an Assistant Electrical Engineer (Traction Distribution), Construction, Eastern Railway, Howrah, and has held a variety of positions.
He is an electrical engineer from the 1991 class of the Indian Railway Service and holds a master's degree in power electronics, electrical machines, and drives from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi.
