Title - Central Railway invites tenders for installation of escalator at Vikhroli station

MUMBAI: Commuters can soon expect escalator facility at Vikhroli station. On Aug 26, Central Railway invited tenders for this facility that aims at faster dispersal of commuters from station. The escalator will come up at Kalyan-end of Platform No. 1.

The escalator will be one metre wide and ascend at a height of 6 metre - the average height at which the foot over bridges in Mumbai are located. It will be able to carry 9,000 commuters per hour. A senior official said, "The escalator will come up at a cost of Rs 62 lakh approximately.

The contract will be finalised in a month as the tender is scheduled to be opened on Sept 28." Apart from installation, the successful bidder will have to undertake maintenance of heavy duty tender for a two years. The succesful bidder will be given a time limit of 3 months to install the escalator from date of appointment.

Indian Railways has already awarded contract for 100 escalators at stations across the country on January 2, 2012. As per the Railway Board contract, two escalators each will be installed at Dadar, Kalyan and Thane station on Central Railway and one each at Andheri and Borivali station on Western Railways The work on installing these escalators in Mumbai is likely to completed by June 2013. As per the terms and conditons, these escalators will have to installed within 18 month from the date of contract.