RailEnquiry

Mumbai : The Central Railway and the Western Railway by converting the land around stations into ‘pay and park’ lots will not only get rid of the hawkers but also earn a handsome revenue.

The Western Railway (WR) have identified 11 stands for motorcycle, scooters and cars in Mumbai Division; the Railway presently gives the locations adjacent to stations to private contractors and earns crores of rupees as licence fees from them.
Dadar, Bhayander, Borivali, and Bandra Terminus (BDTS) stations are being targeted by the WR for the pay and park facility.
WR officials say that these pay and park stands would accommodate up to 2,000 vehicles and Mumbai Division of WR can easily earn over Rs 30 lakh per annum.
BDTS has a major encroachment by hawkers below the flyover.
According to Senior Divisional Commercial Manager of Mumbai Division of WR, Ity Pandy, “Many passengers have to come to the stations on their own vehicles and they need accommodation for that. No need to say, this idea has benefited everyone.”
WR did a survey to fix the rate and also compared its rate with BMC’s parking rate. WR earned Rs 3.03 crore last fiscal in this head.
CR has identified Ghatkopar, Kurla, Kanjurmarg, Panvel, Tilak Nagar, Mulund, Parel, Nahur, Kopar, Neral stations and already renewed running contracts.
Currently CR has given 25 car-parking locations in Mumbai Division near railway stations, which have emerged as a decent tool for revenue generation.
Thane and LTT tops in the list of revenue generation from pay and parking.
Chief Public Relations Officer, Atul Rane, said, “Undoubtedly, traffic is going upward day by day and assured parking is the need of the hour. So, we have short-listed a few potential stations and we removed and cleared the existing utilities there.”