Mumbai FOB was a disaster waiting to happen -Governance Now

Mumbai FOB was a disaster waiting to happen

Way back in 2010, concerned locals had sought improvement of facilities at Elphinstone railway station

Geetanjali Minhas | September 29, 2017 | Mumbai

#Parel #Elphinstone #Mumbai #Foot over bridge #railway

In 2010, a group of people had sought improvement of facilities at the Elphinstone railway station, where tragedy struck on Friday with 22 people being killed in a stampede.

The FOB on which people were crushed to death is 150-year old.

Read: Man with a mission gets bridge for Mumbai railway station

Friday’s stampede was triggered due to heavy rainfall in the morning rush hour. The lone FOB connects Elphinstone Road station on western side of suburban railways network to the Parel station. On the north end, another lone stairway lands on the Parel side.

With the drastic transformation of the areas and its landscape changing from mill and residential area into commercial space, it has witnessed a huge rush of daily office goers and commuters. Commuters use the bridge to cross over to either sides or to hop over to the suburban network.

Governance Now in September 2010 had reported on a citizen’s fight for improving facilities on the same stations. While some work has been done on Parel side with construction of a stairway, it was of no significant use for commuters as they have to walk a long distance.

The railways at the instance of Shiv Sena only rechristened the name from Elphinstone Road to Prabhadevi station recently.

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