Mumbai: Andheri station stalls to move, station to breathe easy

The elevated deck at Andheri railway station where the food stalls will be moved to, soon

Western Railway officials are drawing up a detailed pl an to move the remaining food stalls from congested Andheri station platforms to the elevated deck at the centre of the station so that crowding is controlled and walking and waiting at the station becomes easier.

A committee formed last year, after complaints of extreme crowding, had recommended relocating the stalls to improve traffic movement and safety conditions. However, a few stall owners had challenged the order in court, which refused to give a stay. As the process was on, the pandemic lockdown was enforced in March 2020. The process will now be completed and WR officials said it would be done without it affecting the livelihood of those who run the stalls.

Sharing details of the plan, a Western Railway official said that a 100-metre autorickshaw deck that had been built around 2013 would now be used for this purpose. "The deck is been examined and it needs to be strengthened. Once that is done, the stalls will be brought here," he added. The 60-metre-long and 34-metre-wide two-lane auto deck with footpaths on either side had been built between the middle and north foot overbridges by Western Railway's construction department in 2013. The idea was to allow autos and make movement and circulation of traffic easier, but it did not work out owing to several reasons and the ramp is now used by stall keepers and other stakeholders to ferry their goods to the station stalls.

Pre-pandemic Andheri used to ferry about seven lakh passengers and with it being a junction station for Mumbai Metro Line 1, the crowd during rush hour here is quite large, leading to overflowing platforms.

7 Lakh
Crowd that Andheri station used to see before the pandemic