Changing Face of Mira Road Station

Pic 1 : The skywalk under contruction
Pic 2 : Outside the station

The last two years have seen a dramatic change in and around Mira Road Station. When we first came to live here around 6-7 years back, there was a small old ticket counter outside the platform. It was typical of small ticket windows of a small town. There was a tower-like structure (two huge poles) erected towards the right side as you got out of the station, depicting entrance to Shanti Nagar side. This was made by Ajmera Builders, if I am not wrong, which has more constructions on the Shanti Nagar side, while Naya Nagar side is mostly ruled by Asmita Builders. The first change was made around two years back, when the huge poles (entrance) were felled down, which I'd written about on my blog that time. An additional railway track was laid (which till today is not used for local trains, but implemented as promised to people beyond Borivali after much struggle). The old ticket counter structure was demolished, the outside stalls were razed, a overhead bridge was constructed and modern-day ticket counter was made on the bridge. The present counter has all the amenities available , including smart card machines and the local/ STD phones installed by Tata. After this change, the station outside looked more cleaner and spacious.

What you see in Pic 1 and 2 is Mira Road station as it is seen today. Below is the same place as it looked two years back.

Below is the old ticket counter structure, which has since been demolished

This picture was also taken almost two years back when the tower-like structure was felled

Before we could start enjoying the change, the spacious area was soon filled by hawkers selling fruits, vegetables and other stuff. This again is a speciality of almost all railways stations in Mumbai. Again some months ago more changes were planned, and digging started outside the station. To the left of Mira Road station as you stood facing the East (which is the only side which is inhabited by people), the leftmost side had a big pond-like swamp. This was almost like a gutter, attracting lot of mosquitoes and welcoming people who arrived at the Station. Called jokingly called Mira Road, 'Macchar Land'. Sometimes you could see sea-gulls there. But a year back, the work for filling up the swamp had begun and slowly that part has been concretised. After that work was over, RNA Builders had sealed up the left side for their construction work, which has started in full swing now. 2-3 months back, more digging started, making the approach road to the station from left side almost blocked. RNA construction on left side and the Sky Walk work on right side. Here, since the underground is swampy, the inner concretization was the initial step before starting the actual Sky walk work. While on the topic of Sky Walk, after the success of the Bandra Skywalk, there is a plan to have Skywalks at all the Mumbai stations, whether it is required there or not. The Bandra one was needed, but the others are just a need of some Neta. Even stations like Dahisar, which have a narrow road outside and does not even have a traffic congestion problem, are going to have a Sky Walk. Work has started and the many station roads at present are congested because of the work going on. The work is more in the stations beyond Borivali.

I'd gone outstation this weekend and on my return on Monday (11th May), was surprised to see the work of the Sky Walk almost taking shape. Some part of it was has been laid out. Good progress in two days ! I remember that there was another small gutter-like swampy area in the middle. And as we stood in the auto rickshaw line, mosquitoes greeted us from there. That was filled when the Phase 1 part of the work was completed almost a year and a half to two years back. The now has an enclosure and is smartly utilised for parking of two wheelers and cycles. Thankfully it was not given away for any building construction.

There's also one passage-way being made on the left of the station (attached to the platform). The roofs have been laid out already. Today I even saw painting work being done on the stairs leading to the foot-bridge.

Hoping to see a much better Mira Road station in the next couple of months.