4 Western Railway stations will get facilities akin to airports: Minister

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has proposed to redevelop four railway stations on the western line by providing them with facilities similar to those at the airport.

Prabhu made this announcement while video conferencing with officials of western railway on Tuesday at Western Railway headquarters in Churchgate.

“The plan is to redevelop main stations like Bandra, Mumbai Central, Borivali and Surat. The western railways have planned to lease out their space to private players to build various facilities on the station premises,” said Prabhu.

Facilities like multiplexes, shopping complex and hotels will be constructed vertically inside the station premises. The tenders for the same have been floated two months back. The facilities will open for public use by 2020.

Prabhu also inaugurated passenger amenities like Skywalk, Foot Over Bridge (FOBs) escalators, booking offices and Passenger Reservation Centre (PRS) counter at several stations on the western line.

New FOBs were inaugurated at stations like Dadar, Matunga Road and Bhayandar stations. An escalator was also inaugurated at each station like Dadar, Bhayander, Vasai Road and Nallasopara. The total cost of constructing these escalators will be around Rs 11 crore.

“We have also provided a skywalk at Andheri station which would connect a FOB of railway station to metro station. This would help in direct connectivity for the railway as well as metro commuters. The total cost of constructing this skywalk is approximately Rs 7 crore,” said Prabhu.

An elevated deck for easy passenger movement was inaugurated at Boriwali station. This deck will be connected to all the FOBs and skywalk on the station which would help the senior citizens to easily navigate through the station premises. The cost for constructing the deck is yet to be decided.

Facilities like multiplexes, shopping complex and hotels will be constructed vertically inside the station premises