Borivali commuters still fret,fume over platform confusion

On March 6,the commuters had detained the 7.56 pm train for an hour at platform 8. “There was no announcement that the train will arrive at platform 8 at Borivali. So commuters staged an agitation,’’ said a passenger.

Neela Das,a Borivali resident,said,“On March 7,I was going to Churchgate. At 9.52 am,the sign at the station showed that the Dadar local will arrive at platform 5. At 9.53 am,it was announced that it will arrive at platform 3. Many commuters crossed the tracks to reach platform 3 at the last minute.’’

An RPF personnel on duty told Newsline,“Every day we produce 70 to 80 passengers in court for crossing the tracks. But during peak hours,we relax the rules due because of the change in platforms. Many commuters have a genuine reason then for crossing the tracks.’’

Announcements are often done at the last minute,and sometimes not at all.

A commuter said: On March 8,2009,at Boisor station,the 9.59 am MEMU,supposed to arrive at platform 3,was late. A woman got a call from her father,an employee of WR,that the train would arrive at platform 1. The woman and a co-passenger arrived at platform 1. When the train was about to arrive,the change was announced to the public. Another commuter who was present when this happened,said,“If that Railway employee had the information two minutes earlier,why was it not intimated to the public in time?”

Many a time,the position of the ladies compartment also changes due to a change in the number of bogies. Veena Basu,a resident of Goregaon said,“Because of the change in number of compartments,women have to make a mad rush to catch the train.’’

S Mudgerikar,Chief Public Relations Officer,CR admitted that a change of the platform was a major problem in Thane and Kalyan. But now things were now better. “Our GM has passed strict instructions not to change platforms,except in critical situations,like when a train blocks a platform or there are two or four trains in line behind a train on a platform. The problem has been reduced considerably,’’ added Mudgerikar.

Shyam Sunder Gupta,CPRO,WR,said,“We have solved the problem that commuters faced on platform 7 and 8 at Borivali. Only trains already scheduled for these platforms arrive at these platforms. But in general,if there is any platform change,it is done to offer punctual services. We have to change the platforms after proper announcements. Sometimes,there may be no announcement for some reason. But in WR,such cases have been brought under control.’’