Chaos prevailed at Kurla station after Central Railway (CR) closed two Foot-Over Bridges (FOBs) for renovation without advance notice or making alternative plans on Tuesday and without stating the duration of the closure. One is on the Sion-end of the platform, which connects other platforms, while another is an east-west BMC FOB without having access to platforms but is used by many people.
CR’s chief PRO Sunil Udasi said that both FOBs have been closed for safety. The public can use other FOBs, besides there is a subway for those who do not want to enter the platform but travel from east to west or vice versa. Notably, according to commuters, the subway is in such a filthy condition that it's almost unusable.
Also read- Foot Overbridge At Dombivli To Shut From April 1
Considering that Mumbai has already seen a stampede at former Elphinstone Road station (now Prabhadevi), the sudden move to shut FOBs without warning is inexplicable and could trigger chaos, or worse, another stampede.
Railway activist and Kurla resident Subhash Gupta claimed that the railways said all the bridges were safe as per the IIT-B report. This led to complete chaos as other FOBs are now overcrowded with a stampede-like situation during peak hours. The BMC FOB was repaired few years back and the subway the railways wants them to use is in bad shape, with overflowing drains and filth.
Also read- Escalators To Be Installed At Churchgate And CSMT Subways
In order to repair the staircase of FOB at platform No. 1 at CSMT, the Central Railway have decided to close the platform with immediate effect till April 26.
Western Railway has decided to run one additional service of trains stopping at all stations during the intermittent night of April 3/4, April 10/11, April 15/16, May 2/3 May and May 5/6 between Churchgate and Virar to facilitate spectators coming to watch IPL matches at Wankhede stadium.
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