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Boisar cries for more locals

Commuters in the suburb have increased manifold but not train services.

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Boisar has undergone a metamorphosis. From a sleepy area in the far-flung suburbs, it has transformed into a buzzing, fast-paced township.

With one of the country’s oldest nuclear plant set-ups here (about 12km from the station) and scores of small and large industries, the suburb has recently been opened for mega residential projects. The latest is Tata’s Nano-housing low-cost project, Shubh Griha.

But transport infrastructure has not kept pace with the increasing population of the area. Commuters from the area have doubled and tripled but not the local train services. There are 40 trains to and fro Virar and Dahanu. This has led to unmanageable crowds in locals, making commute a pain.

Those travelling by local train and wanting to go beyond Virar have to switch to shuttle trains which ply between Virar and Dahanu and have a limited frequency. The 60-km stretch between Virar and Dahanu has seven stations — Vaitarna, Saphale, Kelve Road, Palghar, Umroli, Boisar and Vangaon.

Commuters have written to DNA, seeking easy rail commute. “Boisar is getting a step-motherly treatment. This station has many passengers travelling daily to and from Boisar and Mumbai. Even if you add the number of people travelling to and from Vaitarana, Safale, Kelve Road, Palghar, Umroli, Vangaon and Dahanu Road, they may not be as many as commuters from Boisar,” said Vijay Shetty, a commuter. “But, the number of trains stopping at Boisar is less than that of Palghar and Dahanu.”
Boisar is a good example of skewed planning where one arm of governance is not aware what the other is doing.

“This is what happens when the state government and local bodies go ahead and give permissions to set up townships without taking the transport stakeholders into confidence. Planning should happen like Navi Mumbai where train corridors and roads were planned before people began moving there,” said a senior official.

Official statistics show that commuters at stations between Dahanu and Virar are growing at a fast pace (See box).
The direct local between Churchgate and Dahanu has been delayed. Though the tracks are ready and trains can be run at 50kmph on the two bridges that are being upgraded, railway officials said they would start plying trains on the section only after they convert all nine-car trains into 12-car ones in the next few months. “We have spare trains but the priority is to convert nine to 12-car. It will not be possible before 2012 or by Christmas 2011,” said a senior official.

Even after the trains begin to ply, there will be a limited number of trains as there are two tracks which are saturated with outstation and goods trains.

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