RailEnquiry

The Rs 24-crore revamp of Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) is complete, and the most striking feature of our cramped city’s second busiest railway station is space.

The Central Railway (CR) has been promoting the new terminus as railway commuters’ ‘airport’, and after three years of restructuring, the new LTT does come close.

To be formally inaugurated by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on December 1, LTT has a glass façade that encloses a massive 3,300 sq m concourse area.

Once inside, you are greeted by a giant mural created by students of JJ School of Arts with an impressive recreation of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST).

Built on a 50,000 sq meter land, the entire station building complex is naturally lit due to the use of glass. Five turbo ventilators have been installed in each of the 11 arched rows on the ceiling to suck out hot air, a senior CR official said.

From a modest beginning as a two-platform terminus about two decades ago, LTT (also known as Kurla Terminus) quickly leapfrogged Dadar and Bandra as one of the busiest railway stations on the Central Railway.

Lack of space - on an average 80,000 commuters use the station daily - and turned the terminus into a nightmare for commuters.

“It almost gives a feeling of an airport once you enter this place. The facilities are good and well distributed. I hope the quality of this place is maintained,” said Kamal Dubey, who was waiting to board a train to Allahabad.

The station complex has two mezzanine levels on either ends. One is dedicated for a food court, while the other level houses dormitories for passengers, retiring rooms and a VIP room.

Speaking to Mirror, CR general manager Subodh Jain said, “With plans to add three more platforms in the future, the new LTT will help decongest CST.”