Trains chug into newly-inaugurated Ram Mandir station

The city officially got a new railway station on Thursday after Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and a clutch of political dignitaries commissioned the Ram Mandir station on Western Railway's suburban network.

The station, envisaged and built over the past one decade as Oshiwara station, was re-christened Ram Mandir last month.

The first train, which halted at Ram Mandir, departed from Churchgate at 5.11pm and reached Ram Mandir station at 6 pm.

In the Up direction, the first train to halt at this station was at 6.10 pm. All slow trains i.e. 227 in Up direction and 249 in down direction will halt at platforms three and four. The station was a long-pending demand from people living in colonies between Jogeshwari and Goregaon, since neither of the stations were close to these areas and commuters had to pay a sizable amount in last-mile road connectivity from these stations.

The event itself was marred by the now-usual one-upmanship between the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena, with supporters of both parties indulging in sloganeering.

Railway officials blamed the ruckus on the fact that the Railways is being used to score brownie points, thereby creating friction between political parties.

On June 8, 2016, in a WR function in Bandra, several Shiv Sena functionaries, including Member of Parliament Rajan Vichare, protested against 'step-motherly treatment' by the Railways as far as invites to such functions were concerned. Several Sena MLAs and their supporters waved black flags during that function and had to be pacified by Prabhu and WR's top brass.