For the past few days, commuters have been struggling at Andheri station, as the 12-car trains headed to Churchgate are halting way ahead of the EMU designated halt, posing a major safety threat for all waiting to board, or alight the train.
It has been reported that in the past few weeks, the 12-car trains headed towards Churchgate are halting three coaches ahead of the 12-metre wide foot-overbridge at Andheri station which is connected by the skywalk leading to the Metro rail station. "We are forced to run and catch the train as the halt is no longer there at the previous place, especially the ladies first class," said V Reddy, a resident of Andheri.
During peak hours, it becomes chaotic, especially near the coaches at the Virar-end of the platform. Sources in WR said that the changes have been made after motormen demanded to have a uniform halt for both 12-car and 15-car trains. Since October 1, the WR has been operating 54 services of 15-car trains from the earlier 42 services.
This is just 4 per cent of the total number of trains run everyday which now stands at 1,355 services.
"But the motormen are stating that it is difficult to remember the two different stop marks and so we were forced to change the halt marks for all trains be it 12-car or 15-car," said a Western Railway official on condition of anonymity.
Earlier last week, the WR withdrew the decision to stop trains at 15-car stop mark at Dadar station as it was halting few meters away from the regular halt.
The length of a 12-car train is 267 metres, while that of a 15-car train is 333 metres, a difference of 66 metres that needs to be covered to catch a train.
There are other stations like Vasai Road and Bhayander too where this problem persists. The WR officials said that once majority of trains are converted to 15-car only then this decision to change halt mark, makes sense.
Railway laxity
- The WR withdrew the decision to stop trains at 15-car stop mark at Dadar station as it was halting a few meters away from the regular halt.
- The length of a 12-car train is 267 metres, while that of a 15-car train is 333 metres, a difference of 66 metres that needs to be covered to catch a train
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