A formal approval for building a railway terminus at Parel is expected this week when a delegation of top Central Railway (CR) officials meets the Railway Board in Delhi.
The meeting will discuss the progress of various projects and the Parel terminus is the most important one on the agenda. According to a railway official, the issue was taken up at the November 4 meeting, but approval was delayed.
The plan for a terminus at Parel was worked out after it was realised from ticket sales that Parel would be among the busiest stations along with Dadar and Kurla. Ticket sales at Parel are about 22 lakh annually.
The terminus will have a new platform. Existing platforms will be extended and skywalks built to facilitate the movement of commuters. The project would take upwards of two years and it is estimated to cost Rs80 crore.
According to the plan, a track running on the western side that is currently used by up goods trains will be uprooted to build a 408-metre platform. This project was first reported by dna on July 21, 2013.
“Once this line is removed and the platform built, the down line (for goods trains running northwards) will be converted into the first track. Slow trains from CST to Dadar and beyond will run on this line,” a senior CR official explained.
The next step would be to terminate the line on the existing platform number one to set up the terminus line that will be used by trains terminating or starting from Parel.
“The line will have connectors to the slow lines and therefore there will be no infringement on the movement of other trains,” the official said.
At least two skywalks are also planned to ease the congestion on the existing foot overbridge (FOB) across Parel and Elphinstone stations, and they will connect with the FOB.
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