By July ’09, you’ll have 50 skywalks

By July next year, there will be skywalks at 50 points on Mumbai’s suburban railway network to give you easy access to the stations.

What’s more, these skywalks will also have space for the vendors who currently clog the roads outside stations, so that you don’t miss out on your daily shopping on the way home.

This is the promise that has been held out by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority after a meeting with top railway officials on Monday.

On their part, the railways agreed to give early clearances for all the skywalks planned at 50 stations on the Central and Western Railway lines. The MMRDA is planning 25 skywalks on each line at a cost of Rs600 crore.

The stations where skywalks have already been recommended are Bandra, Dadar, Andheri, Borivli, Malad, Goregaon, Sion, Lower Parel, Elphinstone Road, Grant Road, Mahalaxmi, Bombay Central, Mahim, Charni Road, Kandivli, Virar, Thane, Dombivli, Ghatkopar, Vikhroli, and Kanjur Marg.

Work on the skywalk from Bandra station to the Bandra-Kurla Complex has already begun. The work will cost Rs13 crore. At least 29 other stations will be added to the list.

Metropolitan commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad said the railways had promised to complete all formalities of clearance and approval in one go through a single-window system.

They have also promised to extend clearances for the railway overbridge (ROB) being constructed on the Santa Cruz-Chembur Link Road.“We are going to draft all skywalk proposals within two months and will forward them to the railways for approval,” Gaikwad said.