Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw alights from bullet train at Khar to dodge Bandra East mess

Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and a Japanese delegation inspected the upgraded Khar station and bullet train site, avoiding traffic issues at Bandra.

MUMBAI: A special six-coach Vande Bharat train was allocated to carry union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and a Japanese delegation led by minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, Hiromasa Nakano, from Surat to Mumbai on Friday. The delegation was here to inspect the ongoing work at the bullet train station at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC). But, instead of embarking on a shorter route from Bandra East to BKC, the railways chose to halt the train at Khar.

Ashwini Vaishnaw’s travel from Khar to BKC: Officials throw the veil on traffic menace at Bandra East

With this decision, two birds were killed with one stone -- Vaishnaw got to inspect an upgraded Khar station which has a newly-constructed elevated deck of 5000 square meters over platforms and rail tracks; and the dignitaries were saved the embarrassment of witnessing the menace of haphazardly parked auto rickshaws outside the Bandra East station, which leads to traffic clogs.

People aware of the matter from the railways, confirmed with HT that this was the reason why a 3-kilometer trip between Bandra station to BKC was swapped with a 5-kilometer drive from Khar to BKC. “Clearing the auto rickshaws and managing the traffic would have been a bigger problem to deal with,” said a railway official. “The upgrade at Khar station will be replicated at other stations as well.”

The auto rickshaw menace

According to auto unions, the menace outside the Bandra East station has been a constant for the last 15 years, and they claim “the Regional Transport Office (RTO) and traffic police have not been able to quell the problem”.

“Over the years, the increase in the number of office-goers to BKC has led to auto drivers sharing auto stands indiscriminately. There is a crying need to set up a joint committee comprising the RTO, traffic police, unions and passenger representatives that could study locations where similar situations prevail to find a common solution,” said Thampi Kurien, veteran auto union leader.

While auto rickshaws are arbitrarily parked from the station up to BKC, Kalanagar and Bandra Terminus, drivers are known to solicit passengers to their destinations, at times even tugging at them physically. They block the bottom of the foot-over-bridges which during peak hours burgeons into a chaotic situation. A 2024 data by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) illustrated 2.5 lakh people travel to BKC daily for work, which excludes 2 lakh floating population who travel by road.

A member of an autorickshaw union said “of the 1000-odd rickshaws parked outside Bandra station, 5% are running illegally”.

Why has there not been any remedial measure to curb the menace? An officer from RTO said, “We intermittently conduct drives and catch the troublemakers. But the practice resumes after a few hours. People need to voice their opposition against these unruly auto drivers.” The common complaints addressed are catching drivers who charge rates at will -- ₹20- ₹40 per seat – on a shared-basis, packing more passengers against norm and breaching traffic rules.

Ashish Pandey, who travels from Bandra station to BKC every day, said, “I end up walking till the Western Express Highway (WEH) to take a rickshaw as most of the shared autos refuse to ride in the internal roads of BKC or charge as much as ₹50 per seat during peak hours.”

HT’s efforts to seek a response from traffic police remained futile.

Meanwhile, at Khar, BKC…

According to railway officials, Vaishnaw, minister and rail officials from Japan, inspected the spacious elevated deck at Khar --- the largest among Western Railway suburban stations --- which has 3 lifts, 5 escalators and a ramp with handrails among other features. After visiting the station they drove to the BKC bullet train site.

The excavation work at the only underground bullet train station is on -- 15.7 lakh cubic meters of earth has been excavated, which is 84% of the total 18.7 lakh cubic meters that needs to be excavated. Workers have achieved a depth of 32.50 meters from ground level, equivalent to a 10-storey building.

The platform is planned at a depth of about 26 metres from the ground level. Three floors, including 6 platforms, a concourse and service floor have been planned. The length of each platform is 415 meters, which will be connected to metro lines and roads. A dedicated skylight provision has been made for natural lighting.

Sources said that parts of tunnel boring machines (TBMs), including cutters, have reached the site. A closed door meeting was held at a BKC 5-star hotel between Vaishnaw and the Japanese delegation. The details of the meeting were not revealed to the press.