Two elevated decks and a 10-metre-wide foot overbridge (FOB) are being planned to decongest Bhayandar railway station. About 658 lakh passengers boarded trains from this station in 2018-19. It is among 19 suburban stations in Mumbai which are being redeveloped at a cost of about Rs 950 crore by the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC) under Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) 3A.
According to the design finalised by MRVC, the station will have two elevated decks. The deck planned on the west would be relatively smaller connecting the two FOBs and a skywalk on the north end of the station. But the deck on the east side would be about 246-metre-long running parallel over the platform. The east side deck will be connecting all the four FOBs of the station. The deck has been planned in a way that a passenger planning to move from one platform to the other or from east to west can do so through the elevated deck on the west side. “It will create as much more space for passenger movement as on the platform,” added a senior official from MRVC.
Apart from the two decks, MRVC will also be widening an existing three-metre-wide FOB on the south end of the bridge to a 10-metre-wide bridge facilitating smooth commuter movement. All the FOBs will be equipped with escalators and lifts for passengers. The designs, which have been cleared by WR, will now be put before the commissioner of railway safety for his nod.
Along with Bhayandar the other stations taken up by MRVC include Mumbai Central, Kandivali, Khar, Mira Road, Nallasopara, Vasai Road and Jogeswari on WR while those on CR include Bhandup, Mulund, Neral, Kasara, GTB, Chembur, Govandi, Mankhurd, Shahad and Dombivali.