The Western Railway (WR) commissioned a new skywalk on Monday at Andheri – one of the busiest stations along WR's suburban section with a daily average footfall of around 3.15 lakh.
“The skywalk connects the new south-end foot over bridge (FoB) to the old south FoB. It will help decongest the crowd on the old south FoB for movement from Andheri west to the east side by providing an additional walkway,” said a WR official.
According to officials from WR's engineering department, eight FoBs (including the new skywalk) have been commissioned along WR's Mumbai suburban section in this financial year so far. “Currently, WR has a total of 141 FoBs between Churchgate and Dahanu Road for the convenience of passengers and to curb trespassing,” said an official.
“WR has successfully undertaken various infrastructural upgradation and augmentation works for the convenience of passengers. The new skywalk at Andheri is six metres wide and 98 metres long,” the WR spokesperson said.
“This will ease passenger movement during rush hours and also provide more options for commuters to reach the platforms,” Andheri (west) resident Ramesh Shah, 35, said.
Meanwhile, advocate Sudha Savant, 42, said commissioning of the skywalk would make it easier to manage the crowd at Andheri. “In case of an emergency, the passenger flow from the old south-end FoB can be diverted to the new south-end FoB,” Savant said.
The total cost of the Skywalk is pegged at approximately 4.5 crore. Authorities plan to complete five more FoBs – at Dadar, Khar, Naigaon, Vasai Road and Nalasopara stations – by the end of this financial year.
