Mumbai: Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation is soon going to install in the subways of two important railway stations Churchgate and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. A proposal for this work has already been sent to the civic administration for approval.
Churchgate and CSMT are the two most busy railway stations, with lakhs of commuters commuting on a daily basis. In fact, CSMT subway has got congested further after the collapse of the footover bridge outside the Times of India building. Now more people use the already congested subway. To allay fears and decongest both the stations, BMC had planned to set up escalators at the subways, which connect directly to the railway stations.
“The CSMT area has several big hospitals and we realised that many people, especially senior citizens and pregnant women, take the risk of crossing roads in order to avoid climbing steps in the subways. This is the reason we felt escalators will help our citizens. We hope to get a budget provision for this work, after which we will take other approvals,” said an official.
According to a civic official, they have planned to install seven escalators at the Churchgate station subway and four at CSMT station. The A ward has already sent the proposal to the administration for its approval. After the Himalaya footover bridge collapsed on March 14, there has been a lot of speculation regarding the condition of the existing bridges at various stations.
BMC had asked for the re-audit and asked for a new structural report for 39 bridges in the city along with other bridges in both the suburbs. At Churchgate he exits are expected to be towards Azad maidan, Manralay and the Bombay High Court. There will be two exits at CSMT.
