Better access to Bandra Terminus blocked?

The railways and state government’s ambitious plan of increasing accessibility of Bandra Terminus by connecting it to the Western Express Highway (WEH) is veering towards various degrees of impossibility.

The Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation suggested three alternatives to the Western Railway. While the cheapest one requires extensive slum clearing, the other two cost between Rs100 crore and Rs150 crore and would require an elevated road to be built.

The first plan includes the widening of Pipeline Road, which runs along the eastern fringe of the road leading to Bandra Terminus from Bandra station. Officials say the plan is the cheapest one at Rs6.22 crore, except that Pipeline Road is heavily encroached upon and clearing the slums is easier said than done. “Clearing the slums won’t be easy,” an official admitted.

Plan B involves building an elevated, four-lane road starting near the terminus, opening up near Nirmal Nagar police station and stretching till the WEH, south of the Vakola flyover.

“This will require demolishing some of the railway buildings and other government structures and also clearing slums to build the piers. Moreover, the south-bound lane of the road will have to cross the WEH to land on the eastern side. This could cause severe traffic disruptions on the WEH,” the official said, adding that the Rs108 crore plan would be costly for both the state and the railways.

The third plan, the most expensive at Rs158 crore, envisages a four-lane, elevated road above Pipeline Road, all the way till the WEH after which, the road would divide and one of the arms would open somewhere close to CST-Kalina Road. “Encroachments and the massive pipeline that runs along the road would make this difficult,” the official said.

However, MSRDC joint managing director, SM Ramchandani appeared confident about the project. “All three options look tough, but are implementable. We have to work together to ensure this. After all, we are on the verge of completing the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road which, initially, seemed impossible,” he said.

@binoonair