CR passes buck for Ghatkopar FOB crisis to Metro 1

MUMBAI: Already under fire for the chaos on the harbour line, Central Railway (CR) is now trying its best to deflect the anger of commuters travelling to and from Ghatkopar. On Saturday, CR blamed the metro authorities for the dense crowd on the foot over bridge (FOB) at Ghatkopar railway station, which connects the railway station and the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Metro-1.

Earlier this week too, there were complaints from commuters about the crush on the FOB. At Ghatkopar station, the situation seems to have worsened, as serpentine queues are seen during peak hours, which spill over on the CR premises. The staircase leading to Platform 1 and exit from the railway station are totally blocked by these queues. People have been taking to social media, tagging the CR authorities to immediately do something about crowd control at Ghatkopar station.

CR authorities, however, refuse to acknowledge their responsibility. “The public thinks that the overcrowding is because of CR, which is not a fact,” said Shivraj Manaspure, Chief PRO, Central Railway. “The problem at Ghatkopar is due to the Metro-1 authorities.”

CR authorities also took to social media to buttress their point. ‘Above issue was due to problem in operation of Metro on that day (October 3). Metro operation was disturbed in morning peak hours. So Metro have closed their main entrance from Railway Station side on Railway FOB of Ghatkoper station. We have informed it to Metro and tried to solve such problems with help of Metro,’ (sic) stated the CR tweet.

Rail passenger associations said that instead of addressing the issue with some concrete steps, CR was looking at ways to absolve itself of its responsibility at Ghatkopar. “There is a stampede-like situation during peak hours, as people stand in serpentine queues to enter the metro station,” said Kailash Verma, president, Mumbai Rail Users Cell. “Because of this, local train commuters have a tough time, as easy access gets blocked.”

Even as a stampede-like situation on the Ghatkopar FOB occurs frequently, the Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL) authorities are putting forth information on achieving the highest-ever daily footfall at 4.80 lakh. This number is even higher than in pre-Covid times, when the maximum footfall was around 4.65 lakh.

“We have plans to augment from four-car rakes to six-car ones but that is at a very nascent stage,” said sources in MMOPL. People have been demanding an increase in the capacity of metro trains for some time now but, sources said, non-availability of funds is one of the biggest reasons for the delay in procuring new coaches.

Meanwhile, MMRDA is waiting for a report to be submitted by a committee set up by the state government in April to study the acquisition proposal made by Reliance Infrastructure Ltd to sell its stake in Mumbai Metro One (Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar). MMRDA has a 26 percent stake in the special purpose vehicle Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL) while RInfra holds 74 percent.