The Central Railway has taken stock of complaints regarding malfunctioning indicators at railway platforms and foot-over bridges (FOBs), and has begun changing regular electrical panels in these indicators with LED ones. Presently, indicators at several stations have broken screens, while the ETA of upcoming trains are also blank or flickering. The railway hopes that once the new panels are in place, the ETA will be shown.

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The indicators will be replaced on 35 suburban stations in a phased manner. In the first phase, 13 stations will receive new LED-based indicators, of which 10 are already done. "Work is progressing at a quick pace at CSMT, Kurla and Ghatkopar, and will be completed by December," said a Central Railway official.

Passenger associations have been complaining that the indicators are poorly maintained, while it's also difficult for people walking on the FOBs to know the ETA. "This results in last minute chaos, and commuters run on the FOBs or try to catch moving trains, which is very dangerous," said Subhash Gupta, president, Mumbai Rail Yatri Sangh.

In the second phase, 22 suburban stations will get new LED screens. Work on this is expected to be completed by March 2019.

Sunil Udasi, chief PRO of Central Railway, said, "These new indicators have better and wider visibility. Also, the use of LED lights does not cause strain to the passengers' eyes, while also providing better clarity."

The ETA will now be part of the same indicator, unlike in the past when it was on a separate adjacent screen. A standby arrangement is also in place for a computer system which controls the indicator operations, so if one computer fails, others can take over without interruption. This would mean the indicators never go blank.