Andheri railway station

Andheri (station code: A (Western)/AD (Harbour)/ADH (Indian Railways)) is a passenger rail station located at Andheri suburb of Mumbai. It serves the Western line and Harbour lines of the Mumbai Suburban Railway. It is also a stop for some express trains and August Kranti Rajdhani Express. The station also inter-connects the Line 1 of the Andheri metro station.[4] Andheri station first came under prominence after the development of Salsette-Trombay Railway services in 1928 by the British Empire of India during the pre-independence period.[5]

Andheri
Mumbai Suburban Railway station
Andheri Station from the East
Coordinates	19.119167°N 72.846944°E / 19.119167; 72.846944
Owned by	Ministry of Railways, Indian Railways
Line(s)	Western Line and   Harbour Line
Platforms	9
Tracks	9
Connections	BEST Transport, Line 1: Mumbai Metro
Construction
Structure type	Standard on-ground station
Disabled access	Yes[1]
Other information
Station code	A (Western Line) AD (Harbour Line) ADH (Indian Railways)
Fare zone	Western Railways
History
Opened	1928 (as Salsette-Trombay railway station) 1934 (as Andheri)
Rebuilt	2015
Electrified	Yes[2]
Previous names	Salsette-Trombay railway station
Traffic
Passengers (2016-17)	99.6 million[3]
Rank	1st on Western Line
Services
Preceding station   MSR   Following station Vile Parle toward Churchgate Western Line Jogeshwari toward Dahanu Road Vile Parle toward Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus or Goregaon Harbour Line Jogeshwari toward Goregaon or Panvel
Route map Ahmedabad–Mumbai main line Dahanu Road Vangaon Boisar Umroli Palghar Kelve Road Saphale Vaitarna River Vaitarna Virar Nallasopara Vasai Road Central line and Konkan Railway Naigaon Vasai Creek Bhayandar Mira Road Dahisar Borivali Kandivali Malad planned extension to Borivali Goregaon Ram Mandir Jogeshwari Andheri Line 1 Vile Parle Sahar Airport Santacruz Sahar Airport Khar Road Bandra Mithi River Mahim Harbour line Matunga Road Central line Dadar planned Monorail Prabhadevi Parel Central line Lower Parel Mahalaxmi Line 3 Mumbai Central Line 3 Grant Road Line 3 Charni Road Marine Lines Churchgate Line 3 Colaba/Backbay
Location
Andheri Location within Mumbai Show map of Mumbai Andheri Andheri (India) Show map of India

Harbour line
Konkan Railway to Roha and Goa to Uran City Panvel Konkan Railway to Karjat and Vasai Road Khandeshwar Mansarovar Taloja River Kharghar CBD Belapur Nerul–Uran line to Uran City Western Line to Dahanu Road Seawoods-Darave planned extension to Borivali Nerul Goregaon Juinagar Ram Mandir Trans-Harbour Line to Thane Jogeshwari Sanpada Line 1 Andheri Vashi Sahar Airport Vile Parle Thane Creek Sahar Airport Santacruz Mankhurd Khar Road Govandi Chembur Line 1 Bandra Tilak Nagar Mithi River Central Line to Thane and Karjat Mahim Kurla LTT Western Line to Churchgate Central line Chunabhatti King's Circle Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar Line 1 Vadala Road Line 1 Sewri Cotton Green Reay Road Dockyard Road Central line Sandhurst Road Masjid Bunder Line 3 Mumbai CST

Ahmedabad–Mumbai main line Dahanu Road Vangaon Boisar Umroli Palghar Kelve Road Saphale Vaitarna River Vaitarna Virar Nallasopara Vasai Road Central line and Konkan Railway Naigaon Vasai Creek Bhayandar Mira Road Dahisar Borivali Kandivali Malad planned extension to Borivali Goregaon Ram Mandir Jogeshwari Andheri Line 1 Vile Parle Sahar Airport Santacruz Sahar Airport Khar Road Bandra Mithi River Mahim Harbour line Matunga Road Central line Dadar planned Monorail Prabhadevi Parel Central line Lower Parel Mahalaxmi Line 3 Mumbai Central Line 3 Grant Road Line 3 Charni Road Marine Lines Churchgate Line 3 Colaba/Backbay

With a pre-eminent number of passengers boarding daily, it has been termed "one of the busiest stations" in Mumbai surpassing Ghatkopar station on the Central line.[6] In 2014, the station, along with Jogeshwari and Goregaon stations, was re-developed and expanded with the expenditure of ₹103 crore (US$14 million).[7] In addition, the station has two bus stations operating more than 30 bus routes.[8]

History

Salsette-Trombay railway service

The Indian Railways was first established by British Empire of India in 1853 and it connected its first railway service between Bombay (now Mumbai) and Thane. In 1928, the British Empire connected Andheri station with Trombay by the Great Indian Peninsular Railway under the Bombay Improvement Trust as "Salsette-Trombay Railway line" with a view for the opening up of a railway line running West to South-east and linking up Andheri and Kurla station.[5][9] However, in 1934 the line had shut down due to the development of Santacruz Airport.[10]

Metro-Local connection

In February 2014, It was proposed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority to integrate the Andheri metro station with the suburban station with the development of the skywalk and the same was proposed for the Ghatkopar metro station.[11]

After the establishment of Mumbai Metro services In June 2014, a skywalk of 12 metres (39 ft) has been developed by the MMRDA for the passengers traveling from local station to the metro station.[12][13] The skywalk has been built opposite to the auto-rickshaw terminal of the station with an expenditure of ₹6.04 crore (US$850,000).[14]

Proposed expansion and re-development

The Harbour line of the Andheri station towards Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and Panvel serves a total number of 36 trains per day.[15] The development of the Harbour line extension till Goregaon station has been announced under the Mumbai Urban Transport Project scheme in 2011.[16] However, in 2014 the development of the project had been stopped due to a 400 metres (1,300 ft) stretch, which was used by the railways for laying of tracks between Andheri and Goregaon stations.[17]

The station was renovated in early 2015 with the establishment of automated escalators and new Automated Ticket Vending Machines (ATVM) for the ease of booking tickets to the daily passengers.[18][19][20] According to the statistics of April 2014 to January 2015, the number of passengers using vending machines was 6,933, whereas in April 2015 to January 2016, it had the higher number of bookings with a total number of 18,316 passengers.[21] Due to the increasing number of passengers travelling on the rooftop of the train coaches, Commissioner of Railway Safety (CRS) electrified the train coaches rooftops containing 25,000 volts.[2][22]

The station has total number of nine platforms, with platform number 1 and 2 serving the Harbour line. Further, the Harbour lines now serves a 12-coach train services.[23] In 2012, it was proposed by the Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation that the Harbour line trains may get an extension of 12-coaches for the ease of passengers boarding daily from the Western lines.[23] However the MRVC announced that extension of some stations has been completed and the services may start from 2016.[24]

In February 2016, it was reported that the main road of the eastern zone of the station will be re-constructed in according for development of a long delayed elevated auto-rickshaw terminal. The Bombay High Court had ordered to evict the stalls blocking the road. Counsel Anil Sakhare had stated to the court that the stall vendors blocked the construction and infrastructure development and most of the vendors opposed the eviction notice given to them.[25] The work was originally started in 2011 and was to complete on December 2013 but as the corporation was unable to evict the stalls, the work was kept on hold. However, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had removed the stalls from the road and the construction for the terminal had been started.[26] It has a two-lane terminal measuring the height of 60 metres (200 ft) and a width of 34 metres (112 ft) which connects the Andheri-Kurla road.[27] Under the second phase of MUTP, three escalators and 2 lifts will be installed.[28]

Traffic

Andheri is the busiest station on the Western Railway network. Over 99.6 million passengers' journeys originated at the station during the 2016-17 fiscal year. During the same period, the station sold ₹2.41 crore (US$340,000) worth of tickets (or 9% of all tickets sold on the Western Line) and 890,000 season passes, earning WR a total revenue of ₹59.50 crore (US$8.3 million). An average of 66,152 tickets and 2,441 season passes were sold at the station daily, and an average of 256,561 passengers began their journeys at Andheri per day contributing ₹1,632,994 (US$23,000) of average daily revenue.[3]

Station layout

The interior of Andheri station terminal

Stations		Stations between platforms
Platforms (HR)/(WR)	Direction (Harbour line)	← Harbour line towards Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus or Panvel ←
	Side platform, directions on the left
	Direction (Western line)	← Western line towards Churchgate ←
Platforms (WR)	Direction (Western line)	→ Western line towards Dahanu →
	Side platform, directions on the right

The station consists of a 100 metres (330 ft) long auto-rickshaw terminal at the eastern zone of Andheri. It has been built between the northern and middle foot-over bridges of the station and its connected to the northern bridge and continues down a road to the MV Road. In addition, the auto-rickshaw services are used for the passengers crossing through the Nityanand Road from the northern bridge to get down the road at the eastern bridge of the station. However, the designed structure was used for commuters serving as the only foot-over bridge for the metro station as the terminal was kept unused.[29]

Bus connections

Panoramic view of Andheri bus terminal from western zone

The Oshiwara depot serves as a major hub and transfer point for Andheri bus routes serving the western area. All routes pull into the station's busway off Yari Road bus station, though some can be caught at Goregaon via the station's bus depot entrance as well. The eastern area is connected by buses between Agarkar Chowk Depot and Majas Depot, Ghatkopar Depot, Kurla Depot and Mulund Depot. But due to the increment of the Mumbai Metro service fare rates, the Ghatkopar-Andheri bus services proved to be a beneficial deal for the passengers.[30]

References

1. Shwetaa Rahul (9 October 2009). "WESTERN RAILWAY PROVIDES 115 WHEELCHAIRS". Daily News and Analysis. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
2. "WR has 25,000 volts under its wings". Mid Day. 6 February 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
3. "Andheri remains WR's busiest station, accounts for 9% of tickets sold | Latest News & Updates at Daily News & Analysis". dna. 8 April 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
4. "Mumbai's first metro may chug in March 2013". DNA India. 6 May 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
5. "History Of Andheri". NF Desk. Nearfox. 9 December 2014. Archived from the original on 25 February 2016. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
6. Richa Pinto and Manthan K Mehta (10 June 2014). "Andheri station zone is busiest transit point". The Times Group. Times of India. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
7. Mehta, Manthan K (4 December 2011). "3 stations set for a 103-crore makeover". Indiatimes. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
8. Naresh Kamath & Laxman Singh (25 November 2015). "Unclog Mumbai: Andheri station at breaking point". HT Media. Hindustan Times. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
9. "Report of the Bombay Development Committee". Government of Bombay, 1914. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
10. "Railway Gauges in India". IRFCA.org. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
11. "Mumbai Metro-local integration awaits nod". DNA Desk. DNA India. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
12. Priyal Dave and Mansi Phadke (20 May 2014). "MMRDA, Railways work together to close gap between railway, Metro stations at Andheri & Ghatkopar". The Indian Express. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
13. Saurabh Gupta (7 June 2014). "Mumbai Metro to be Thrown Open to the Public Tomorrow". NDTV Desk. NDTV. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
14. Rajendra B. Aklekar (3 August 2015). "SKYWALK TO LINK ANDHERI RAILWAY, METRO STATIONS". The Times Group. Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
15. Rajendra B Aklekar (21 September 2014). "WORK TO START IN JAN TO EXTEND CST'S HARBOUR PLATFORMS FOR 12 CARS". The Times Group. Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
16. Shashank Rao (5 September 2011). "Harbour line to reach Goregaon". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
17. Manthan K Mehta (21 May 2014). "Land snag hits Harbour's Goregaon route". The Times Group. The Times of India. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
18. "Highest number of mobile tickets booked in Andheri". HT Media. Hindustan Times. 10 July 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
19. Shashank Rao (10 January 2015). "Rs 2,000-crore makeover for 20 Mumbai railway stations". Mid Day. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
20. Express News Service (18 July 2015). "Mumbai railway stations set for redevelopment". The Indian Express. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
21. Shashank Rao. "Mumbai: Andheri 'smartest' station on Western Railway". MD Desk. Mid Day. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
22. Mid Day (30 January 2012). "Mumbai: 25,000 volts to 'shock' rooftop travellers". CNN-IBN. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
23. Manthan Mehta (28 January 2012). "All Harbour line trains to get 12 coaches". The Times Group. The Times of India. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
24. Aroosa Ahmad (22 January 2015). "Don't expect 12-coach trains on Harbour line before 2016". Afternoon. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
25. Mustafa Plumber (7 February 2016). "Andheri station may soon get elevated auto deck". DNA desk. DNA India. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
26. Geeta Desai (10 February 2016). "Finally, BMC removes stalls outside Andheri (E) station to make way for auto ramp". DNA Desk. DNA India. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
27. Binoo Nair (13 February 2016). "Demolition outside Andheri station gets BMC thumbs-up from commuters". DNA Desk. DNA India. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
28. "MUTP-I officially ends". Free Press Journal. 31 March 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2016.
29. Shashank Rao (11 July 2015). "Mumbai: Hawkers look to take over Rs 8-crore Andheri auto deck". Mid Day. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
30. Mewati Sitaram (18 January 2015). "BEST route sees surge in commuters after Metro hikes fare". Daily News and Analysis. Retrieved 18 January 2016.

External links

• Andheri railway station at WR official portal
• Andheri station at Go4Mumbai