Western Railway plans to move stalls at Andheri station to improve crowd management

In a bid to decongest and improve crowd management at a suburban station, the Western Railways (WR) has decided to relocate the stalls for vendors.

WR authorities have also decided to remove all platform benches – except those reserved for the elderly and the infirm and deployed additional personnel – especially during peak hours – to ensure traffic at the station continues to move smoothly.

Apart from relocating the stalls, WR is also taking other long-term measures outlined in the committee report. These include the construction of a skywalk connecting the new South FOB with the existing South FOB; and construction of a new deck over Platform 6/7 and Platform 8/9 covering the area between North FOB and South FOB, with an extension towards another deck.

A deck for rickshaws was set up in 2013 near Andheri station. There are two lanes on this deck, 60 meters long and 34 meters wide. A massive structure called an auto rickshaw deck has been standing right in the middle of Andheri railway station. After the initial purpose of making it a pick up point for auto rickshaws failed, the WR authorities were looking at other options, such as setting up mini take away restaurants and stalls on this auto rickshaw deck.

Andheri railway station is one of the busiest station, which saw more than 13 lakh footfalls per day ahead of lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic.

The similar changes were made at Prabhadevi station, then Elphinstone Road, after a stampede incident that took place. The planning was done in such a way that there would be space available for the passengers coming and going in the station.