Mumbai News: Platform Change Causes Inconvenience To Thousands Of Daily Commuters

Mumbai: In an unexpected move, the Mumbai Division of Central Railway (CR) swiftly altered the platform numbers in the suburban section of Panvel station on Tuesday, leaving thousands of daily commuters in a state of inconvenience. Panvel, renowned as one of the busiest stations with a daily footfall of approximately 2.5 lakh passengers, is a crucial junction connecting Thane, CSMT, and Goregaon through hundreds of suburban train services.

Changes effective from Oct 3

This platform number change, effective from Tuesday, October 3, comes as a result of yard remodeling work underway at the station. As part of this project, the old platform 1 has been renumbered as platform 3, while platform 2 retains its original number. Furthermore, the former platform 3 has been renamed as platform 1. Most notably, platform 4 has been dismantled entirely to pave the way for two additional tracks dedicated to the freight corridor.

A senior officer of CR confirmed the developments, stating, “To accommodate the additional two tracks for the dedicated freight corridor, yard remodeling work at Panvel is currently in progress. As a consequence, one platform in the suburban section was dismantled on Tuesday, and the suburban platform numbers were reconfigured.”

However, this sudden platform renumbering has led to chaos at Panvel station, with commuters expressing their frustration at the lack of prior notice. Jayesh Shah, a 35-year-old regular commuter on CR’s Harbour line, remarked, “Chaos at Panvel as platforms were renumbered without any notice.”

Mridula Jain, a 52-year-old frequent Harbour line commuter, added, “On Tuesday morning, when I arrived at the station, I was surprised to learn about this change. It's very confusing. Before making such decisions, the railway should inform passengers well in advance.”