Elphinstone Road station stampede. (File Photo) Elphinstone Road station stampede. (File Photo)

Four years before the present survey of 126 railway stations in the wake of the Elphinstone Road station stampede, the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) had appointed Wilbur Smith Associates, a consultant in transport studies, to conduct surveys and analysis to take stock of passenger amenities. According to the 2013 report, Mumbai’s suburban railway system then carried more than 80 lakh passengers on weekdays, and a sample survey of 25,000 passengers across three main lines —Western, Central and Harbour — showed that 41 per cent of them were least satisfied with the maintenance of foot overbridges (FOBs) or subways.

This densely loaded rail system is spread over 319 route kilometres on the three corridors. There are 36 stations on the Western line, 51 on the Central line and 28 on the Harbour line. Daily, 2,813 train services are operated by Western Railway and Central Railway on the three lines. Currently, WR operates the maximum daily services — 1201 — on the Western line.

CR has 875 daily services on the Central line and 787 daily services on the Harbour line. MRVC, a public sector undertaking of the Government of India under the Ministry of Railways, has initiated a number of rail infrastructure projects under MUTP Phase I and II. As part of the plan to gauge the benefits of these projects to suburban rail passengers, the MRVC had appointed Wilbur Smith Associates, a consultant of international repute in transport studies, to carry out a passenger survey and analysis.

The survey took into account passengers entering and exiting through all authorised and unauthorised entry points of the selected 37 stations on the three lines. According to the survey, 37 per cent passengers were not satisfied with cleanliness/maintenance of rail coaches and 51 per cent were not happy with capacity/ space for passengers in rail coaches. Regarding facilities at stations, 42 per cent were not satisfied with toilet facilities and 44 per cent were unhappy with the time taken to purchase tickets. While 46 per cent passengers were not satisfied with assistance and information for disabled or elderly people in station and in trains, 41 per cent passengers were least satisfied with cleanliness/maintenance of FOBs/subways.

The survey was carried out for 310 selected train services (124 on Western line, 94 on Central line and 92 on Harbour line) covering both morning and evening peak periods. More than 22 lakh passengers travel on the Mumbai suburban system (the three lines together in peak direction) in trains operated between 7.00 and 11.30 in the morning or between 16.00 and 20.30 in the evening. The total services operated during this period are 349 and 333, respectively, in the morning and evening. Between 9.00 and 10.00 am, the number of passengers is about 6.07 lakh. The peak hour in the evening is found to be between 18.00 and 19.00 with 5.87 lakh passengers.

The Western line shares about 50 per cent of passengers travelling on the entire suburban system. About 11.24 lakh passengers travel in 153 services between 7.00 and 11.30 in the Up direction and 10.18 lakh passengers in 134 services operated between 16.00 and 20.30 in the Down direction. On the Central line, about 7.60 lakh passengers travel in 101 services operated between 7.00 and 11.30 and about 7.61 lakh passengers travel in 99 services operated between 16.00 and 20.30 in the evening.

Of the three lines, the Western line carries maximum section load. Passenger usage is highest (3.06 lakh) between 8.30 and 9.30 in the morning and (2.75 lakh) between 18.00 and 19.00 in the evening. The highest section load was observed on the Dadar-Elphinstone Road section with 1,43,690 passengers for Up direction. Similarly, highest section load for Down direction was observed in the Dadar-Matunga section (1,60,633 passengers). On the Central line, the number of passengers travelling was the highest (2.17 lakh) between 8.30 and 9.30 in the morning and (1.92 lakh) between 18.30 and 19.30 in the evening. On the Harbour line, passenger usage was highest (0.87 lakh) between 8.00 and 9.00 in the morning and (1.01 lakh) between 18.30 and 19.30 in the evening.

The report pointed out that Dadar station on the Western line had crowded FOBs, and that the FOBs connecting Western & Central stations (F2 & F3) at the station were congested and required capacity enhancement/ additional FoBs. The width of platform 4 and staircase was inadequate to cater to the demand. FOBs were also crowded at Dadar (Central line). Considering space constraint for more FOBs, the report had recommended increasing the platform length and staggering train halts. In Thane too, three FOBs (1, 2 and 3) were found to be overcrowded.

At MRVC, highly placed officials said based on the recommendations, action had been taken, such as sanction of the MUTP-3 project.

They have strongly proposed a communication-based system to enhance operations. This would mean reducing the time (3.5 minutes at present) between two trains to 2.5 minutes. So, in one hour, instead of operating 15-17 trains, at least 25 trains can be operated to reduce the rush. Officials said the technology was available but needed to be implemented, adding that they were waiting for directions from the Railway Board authorities.

Senior MRVC officials said the report was used to understand the additional requirement of passenger amenities, including FOBs. “We have built additional bridges and included more amenities at the stations after the report was out. Among that, 12 railway stations in Mumbai have been provided with bridges and escalators by the MRVC. The report was shared with the Railways for taking constructive action,” said a senior official. The 12 stations that got additional amenities between 2013 and 2017 included Kanjur Marg, Kurla, Dadar on the CR and Vasai Road, Borivali and Andheri on the WR.

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