With the completion and opening Kurla subway after a delay of 15 years helped the pedestrians to see light at the end of the tunnel after a long wait.
The railway authorities had completed about 70 per cent of the work before 2005, but the remaining was held up as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had refused to give permission for the areas where the entry and exit points for the subway were supposed to be. This will connect east and west of Kurla station through an underground passage without disrupting the movement of trains.
After abandoning the work for years, the civic authority resumed construction of the subway that connects almost 10 suburban railway tracks on the main and harbour lines of Central railway (CR), in February 2016. Before that the authorities decided the convert the vehicular-cum-pedestrian survey into an only-pedestrian survey and hence the work on the staircase was under progress for one year. Activists hope it will bring relief to many commuters and avoid over-crowding during peak hours. The BMC and Central Railways have spent Rs 5.05 crore on the remaining work of the 130m-long subway that is 7.6m wide and 2.6m high. Thus the subway is finally opened up for the pedestrians use.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
