Dissertation Guidelines for the Redevelopment of Suburban Railway stations and Precincts in Mumbai Mandar Mallappanavar Student ID Number 4097515 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the regulation for the degree of Masters in the University of Nottingham. Master of Architecture in Technology, 2010
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Guidelines for the Design and Development of Mumbai Suburban Rail Stations and Precincts
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Dissertation
Guidelines for the Redevelopment of Suburban Railway stations and Precincts in Mumbai
Mandar Mallappanavar
Student ID Number 4097515
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the regulation for the degree of Masters in
the University of Nottingham.
Master of Architecture in Technology, 2010
2
Acknowledgements
Heartily thanks for my dissertation guides Philip Oldfield and David Nicolson to devout their
valuable time and energy in guiding through my dissertation. Nonetheless, sincere thanks to
my friends and family for being always supportive and encouraging.
3
Abstract
The suburban train services in Mumbai are the life-line of the buzzing city. Majority of the
people in Mumbai take public transport to reach work. The service is cheap, on time but not
necessarily the most convenient. There is no good alternative to it. It is severely
overburdened and requires sensitive and subjective upgrading along its length and reach.
This dissertation wishes to provide key insights to the present situation and help analyse the
various solutions been thought over before concluding upon what could possibly provide a
better solution towards improvement of the station precincts in a more holistic manner.
Case-studies presented in here will highlight the issues and the possible solutions thought
over in Mumbai and abroad. A comprehensive situation will be put forth to state key
insights which influence the planning of these key precincts to develop healthy
densifications. The importance of framing flexible guidelines for development of stations
and their areas on ground can eventually be very encouraging in having people to continue
depend heavily on public transport rather than shifting onto more unsustainable modes of
private transport in Mumbai, a fast developing city guiding India on a high growth trajectory.
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5
Table of Contents
List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. 7
List of Tables .............................................................................................................................. 9
Figure 1-5 Old Churchgate Railway Station, Mumbai 14
Figure 1-6 Dadar Railway Station Area and Kurla Railway Station Area, Mumbai 18
Figure 2-1 Mumbai Metropolitan area and transport corridors 25
Figure 2-2 Distribution of One way Commute Distances 30
Figure 2-3 Upcoming Mumbai Metro lines 32
Figure 2-4 Location of Thane alongside Mumbai 34
Figure 2-5 Skywalk , City Bus Station and Rail Station , Thane 35
Figure 2-6 Location of Kanjurmarg Rail Station, Mumbai 39
Figure 2-7 Kanjurmarg Station Area 40
Figure 2-8 Skywalk at Kanjurmarg Station 41
Figure 3-1 London Rail Network 45
Figure 3-2 Location: Stratford Station 47
Figure 3-3 Master plan for Stratford 48
Figure 3-4 Station's Profile and Exploded view,Stratford 50
Figure 3-5 Interiors of Stratford Station 50
Figure 3-6 Present Stratford Station Area 51
Figure 3-7 Location of Kyoto 53
Figure 3-8
The Building’s South Facade, The Rail Platforms and the Atrium, Kyoto Rail Station 54
Figure 3-9 Observation Deck and the Skywalk, Kyoto rail Station 54
Figure 3-10
North Elevation, South Elevation, Section, Axonometric , Plan, Kyoto rail Station 56
Figure 3-11 Spatial Organisation, Kyoto Rail Station 57
Figure 3-12 Public Transport Lines, Zurich 59
Figure 3-13 Plan, Glazenberg Rail Station 60
Figure 3-14 Section and Elevation, Glazenberg Rail Station 61
Figure 3-15 Location: Bangkok 63
Figure 3-16 Typical Station for the Bangkok Light Rail 64
Figure 3-17 Artist impression: Bangkok Light Rail 64
Figure 3-18 Section through the Central Station, Bangkok light Rail 66
Figure 4-1
Mumbai Stations: Office blocks above Vashi Station, Iconic Turbhe Station, Motorbike parking at Thane Station, Car parking on the roof of Khargar Station and Elevated bus station outside Thane Station 68
Figure 4-2 Various ticketing options, Mumbai Suburban rail 71
Figure 4-3 Typical Circulation patterns for Mumbai Rail Stations 72
Figure 2-1 Mumbai Metropolitan area and transport corridors Source: Multiple
27
Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) has majorly been a residential area and most
industries and offices have established themselves in the Island cities and only lately they
are setting up in the fringes of the island and closer to the mainland metropolitan areas.
MMR is constituted of 7Major Municipal Corporations which are as follows:
1. Greater Mumbai
2. Thane
3. Kalyan-Dombivli
4. New Mumbai
5. Ulhasnagar
6. Mira-Bhayander
7. Bhivandi- Nizampur
These Municipal areas are primarily connected by the suburban rail network except
Bhiwandi – Nizampur area. New Mumbai is the latest satellite township which currently has
the least population density because of the various developmental restrictions. The area is
undergoing major developments and the dynamics is all set to change by the construction of
a New International Airport and various commercial and work clusters alongside residential
complexes.
2.2 Public Transport Usage and Future Trends
Although in a booming city of Mumbai it is not to be forgotten that its caters largely to the
people who have migrated to it for availing best of opportunities the city delivers to enable
them to secure a better livelihood. It hence becomes important to analyse the migration
patterns to a city like Mumbai so as to accommodate the influx of people and more
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importantly provide them with means to livelihood. The transport facilities can likely enable
the less privileged ones to avail affordable living conditions in areas beyond the city fringes
and the case of Mumbai is befitting this scenario. It is also certain that this leads to longer
commutes and ultimately incurs higher costs to provide transport systems and avail them
(UNHABITAT, 2003). However, the public transport can be subsidised to target the lower
income groups and to ascertain that it becomes increasingly important to map the dynamic
patterns of transport modes for their usage availed by different classes of people in a
particular society. Unfortunately such patterns are yet to be established (Godard & Olvera,
2000). There is little to be doubted upon the less privileged ones would want to spend the
least on travelling and would prefer to walk most distances for availing his/her needs of
housing and livelihood.
Following are some key evidences for the spatial distribution found around the transport
nodes in Mumbai (Baker, Basu, Cropper, Lall, & Takeuchi, 2005):
In most areas it is found that the lower income groups live in close proximity to areas
habited by middle class and rich people but it is also found that more lower income
groups live in eastern suburbs although the area has limited access to modes of
public transport and employment opportunities.
The lower income groups commute shorter distances and prefer to live closer to
their place of work as the fares account for a larger portion of their marginal
incomes.
The areas farther away from the train stations are preferred by lower income groups
to avail for their housing needs because of the higher land prices near the train
stations.
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The lower income groups increasingly prefer walking or cycling to commute for their
work and other needs. The poor accounted for sixty six percentages of journeys
made by walking and cycling whereas only a quarter of percent journeys were made
using these two modes by the middle and higher income groups in Mumbai.
The poor accounted for 17% of all train journeys and 19% of all bus journeys made in
Mumbai.
In order to formulate a comprehensive transport policy various feasibility reports were
made and it was felt that a thorough survey be carried out of the public transport users in
the city of Mumbai to be specific as it was the densest area in the whole metropolitan.
World Bank presented in one of its report how a particular class of society in Mumbai makes
use of the public transport. The outcome of this report must have helped framing of a
transport policy for the city. The report has categorised the population depending upon
their income levels. The findings of the report are discussed under with the help various
tables. The table no. 2-2 indicates the majority of people live Squatter settlements or
Chawls where the unit sizes are very small and has led to some very dense settlements.
Such dense areas cause major hurdles for their redevelopment because to accommodate
such high densities and ensure better living standards for them is only possible in high-rise
buildings which can quite expensive to build and maintain.
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.
Following is the table which highlights the number of households in various zones of
Mumbai depending upon their income levels and it can be seen that the zone three houses
people belonging to all income levels quite equally.
Table 2-3 - Percentage distribution of Housing units across the zones, by income levels, Mumbai Source: (Baker, Basu, Cropper, Lall, & Takeuchi, 2005).
In the later figure 2-2, is a chart showing most earning members of a family are commuting
only between 1-2kms in one direction and on an average most earning members travel only
5.3kms in one way which can be considered quite healthy for any city but this chart may
simply contradict the amount of load the train services cater when they carry 6.7 million
people every day on linear routes panning across several kilometres (MRVC, 2010). It can
Table 2-2 Household Characteristics by Income groups, Mumbai Source: (Baker, Basu, Cropper, Lall, & Takeuchi, 2005)
31
only be judged that most people living in the
satellite townships are depending on suburban
trains for their commute to work. The table 2-4
simply confirms that most people using the
trains stay in places beyond the greater Mumbai
district. In the table the black line indicates the
places above the line are out of Greater
Mumbai District.
Figure 2-2 Distribution of One way Commute Distances. Source (Baker, Basu, Cropper, Lall, & Takeuchi, 2005)
Table 2-4 No.of commuters using the south bound services during morning rush hours on Western (left) and Central Railways. Source: (Baker, Basu, Cropper, Lall, & Takeuchi, 2005)
32
In table 2-5, it can be seen that there are very few places of work in zone 4 and 6, zones
which are at the district’s fringes and hence it can be justified that more people living in
these zones are required to commute to places far away from their homes.
Consecutively it can be seen in the table 2-6 that the higher income groups are found to be
taking longer commutes for the reason that they avail themselves better housing stocks
which are much bigger and can only be afforded in the areas away from the traditional
business districts.
This trend highlights that the higher income groups who are required to spend longer times
for their commutes to work prefer the express trains which takes very few stops at only key
Table 2-5 Percentage Distribution of Workers across Job Locations by Zone of Residence Source: (Baker, Basu, Cropper, Lall, & Takeuchi, 2005)
Table 2-6 Mean one way commute distance by Zone and Income levels Source: (Baker, Basu, Cropper, Lall, & Takeuchi, 2005)
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stations. Important lessons can be learnt from these figures is that if more faster express
trains are made to run during peak hours then it may result in much less overcrowding of
trains and it also hints that in such a scenario a metro train, BRTS, trams may prove helpful
only if they run along the width of the city unlike the present rail corridors. Fortunately, the
new metro corridors are being planned to provide such west to east connectivity.
In addition to this another pair of tracks are being built parallel to the existing two pairs of
suburban rail tracks to be able to dedicate two pair of tracks solely for suburban traffic
(MRVC, 2010). However the biggest challenge for the laying of parallel tracks in zone 2 and
later into zone 1 is that there is hardly any space.
Figure 2-3 Upcoming Mumbai Metro lines Source: MMRDA
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However, it is also to be noted that there are various other reasons which requires people
to travel apart from work and the following table highlights that. It can be seen that trains
commutes are frequent for carrying out other activities such as reaching for schools/
colleges, meeting friends, relatives or colleagues working and staying elsewhere.
In order to fulfil other activities, the station areas can play an important role in delivering
some of the functions stated in the above table. Unfortunately, major shopping areas are in
locations away from the main station areas. For e.g the Inorbit Mall, Phoenix Mall, Thakur
Mall, Nirmal Lifestyle Mall, R Mall who with their big car-parks cater the high income groups
who prefer to take their own vehicles, taxis or rickshaws to reach them. The station
buildings in Mumbai are run by Indian Railways, a national company and not by a local
transport authority similar to ‘Transport of London’. This makes it difficult to carry out
station redevelopment projects in a comprehensive way. The built environment around the
station building too remains old and with sketchy ownerships, coupled with height-
restrictions and limited use of FARs (as low as 1.33) available in the suburbs, the commercial
exploitation of the station precincts is very limited (Phatak, 2000) (Bertaud & Brueckner,
Table 2-7 Commutes by different modes for different purposes, Mumbai Source: (Baker, Basu, Cropper, Lall, & Takeuchi, 2005)
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2004) (Bertaud, 2004). From the above tables it can also be noted that the present public
transport system is failing to attract the poorer sections of the society and is instead
becoming a cause for urban sprawl because the existing rail corridors are being extended
much in the metropolitan areas. For. e.g. the rising demand for suburban services on the
western line from the satellite townships in the far north (Deshmane, 2010).
Hence in order to achieve equity amongst masses of the people, integration of the available
transport systems is needed. Investing in more feasible modes of transport such as light rail,
trams, and buses and largely by augmenting the available modes of mass rapid transport
such as the Mumbai’s suburban rail network, should be preferred. The suburban rail system
needs a good alternative and systems such as elevated and underground metro, monorails
can come to much rescue. Their loops within the Greater Mumbai District can ensure much
increase in the value of overall land area and open-up new avenues for the development of
areas which were served inadequately by transport linkages and also push the way for
gentrification of some old and derelict areas of the city. The increase in land values and their
subsequent usage for creating better built environments can ensure the cycle of growth to
seek much momentum and result in achieving more sustainable growth targets. Following
are case-studies of two rail stations on the Mumbai Suburban Train network which are
witnessing much redevelopment.
36
2.3 Mumbai Case-studies
2.3.1 Thane Rail Station
Thane is the most populous satellite city just of
Mumbai. The city has an area of 147 sq.kms and its
population is 1.26 million (Census 2001) and is part of
the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. The city is under
the jurisdiction of Thane Municipal Corporation and
has its own Mayor. The city lies just north to the edge
of Greater Mumbai. It has witnessed major urban
sprawl in the last 20 years as major roads were built
in areas away from the station. The Ghodbunder road
is one such road (white line in the above figure) which
connects the city to Borivli, the
western suburb of greater
Mumbai Island and major
residential complexes have been
built on either sides of this road.
These areas are quite far away
from any suburban railway
stations in the Mumbai
Metropolitan Region.
Figure 2-4 Location of Thane alongside Mumbai Source: Google Earth
Figure 2-5 Thane Station and it precinct Source: Google Earth
Greater Mumbai
Borivli
37
The station is an interchange for the Main Central line and the Harbour line. The station also
caters to the inter-city train services and is considered to be one of the most important
stations in the metropolitan area. The station contains 10 platforms. There are two foot
over bridges to connect these platforms.
The station also offers 2 intra-city bus stations and one inter-city bus terminus. These bus
stations are easily accessed from the rail station. Recently, the area on the north of the
station was redeveloped to link the intra-city bus station at an elevated level next to the
station building. The commuters exiting out of the stations from the foot over bridges can
directly access this bus station. This required major ramps to be built to guide the bus
traffic. The ramps built are only for the city buses.
The streets leading to the station are also been provided with skywalks which help
commuters to access the station with ease while avoiding the chaotic situations on the
ground level.
Within the station building, the 10 platforms are currently served by mere 2 foot bridges
which were constructed decades ago and are not sufficient to handle the crowds. Many
Figure 2-6 Skywalk (Left), City Bus Station (Middle) and Rail Station (Right), Thane Source: Author
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people have met fatal accidents while crossing the railway tracks. The trains are becoming
longer and are carrying more passengers but the number of foot bridges has remained
same. The prospects of providing an underpass at the same points where these bridges
originate and terminate can solve the overcrowding at these entry and exit points.
Outside the station building, the elevated deck built to make space for the bus station is not
covered and can cause much inconvenience during the monsoons. The island bays for the
buses are difficult to access and can cause accidents. The whole idea of an elevated bus
station could have been avoided by better regulation of traffic on the ground level. Also,
once it was decided to build the elevated bus station, the air rights could have been used to
build a multi level shopping complex adding more vitality to the station. Although the traffic
situation has improved considerably but the time it took to construct this elevated deck did
greatly inconvenience the commuters. The built environment around the station area is old
and makes the already congested station area unpleasant.
The long skywalks provide very few access points from the ground level and hence are
found to be used by very few people even during the peak hours because provision of the
city bus station right outside the train station doesn’t require the commuters to use the
skywalk.
The station area has very few residential buildings apart from the railway-employees
apartments which further west to the platforms on the north side. Most of the buildings
house small shops, restaurants and businesses. The vegetable market is also not within the
walkable distance from the station. There is a cinema hall in the vicinity of the station but is
old and doesn’t screen popular or critically acclaimed movies. The lake as you can see in the
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in the station area is also not used for any recreational purposes. In all there are no major
amenities within the Station area apart from bus stations.
The station is a starting point for many suburban train services on both the lines and caters
to huge crowds throughout the day. The city with a million plus population depends heavily
on just one station. Provision of convenient access points to the station building with wider
foot bridges, underpasses for pedestrian movements is very important. Creating more
facilities such as shopping malls, open air markets, theatres and open spaces at the ends of
the skywalks can lead to major regeneration of the area. Also most buildings in the area are
mid rises and are smaller floor-plates. They can all be integrated together creating more
open spaces around the station. The scope of a building similar to the Kyoto railway station
(discussed in the next chapter) can add much value to the station and make the area more
attractive.
Table 2-8 SWOT analysis of the Thane Station and its Precinct Source: Author
Strenghts The elevated deck for the bus station has greatly reduced traffic
congestion.
Weaknesses The foot-over-bridges are too narrow to be able to cater 10 platforms.
The station precinct is surrounded by low-rise buildings of smaller floor
plates and adds congestion to the area.
Opportunities The interchange station can make use of the air-space and accommodate
more functions there and pave the way for decongestion of the station
area.
Threats The Population is bound to increase alot and in that case the station
would buckle under rising passenger loads.
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2.3.2 Kanjurmarg Railway Station
Kanjurmarg is a small suburb on the eastern shore of Greater Mumbai. It is served by a very
small railway station served by the Major Central Line. The station area is witnessing major
development because of the strengthening of a road-link between eastern and western
Suburbs.
The station has one Island platform and caters the slow trains on either side of it. The access
to this station is quite inconvenient and has foot-over-bridges on the south and north ends
of the 300m long platform.
Figure 2-7 Location of Kanjurmarg Rail Station, Mumbai Source: Multiple
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The station area is witnessing a very mixed-use development on a scale which the station is
not equipped to handle. The access points to the station from these new developments are
not well defined and often require the people to take winding pedestrian routes or to
dangerously cross the tracks at various locations along the length of the platform.
In the figure to the left it can be seen
that the area is predominantly
residential (blue). The ones closer to
the station (white dotted) are social
housing and are very recent
constructions. They are being built to
rehabilitate the informal housing units
(Blue dotted) and make way for the
new commercial developments
(Yellow). These new commercial
buildings are high-rise and many of
these are being built near the station
areas across all the central line stations in greater Mumbai. The most worrying factor about
these commercial developments is that they are provided with mega car-parking bays and
their accesses for pedestrians from the station buildings are not being well defined. These
new office blocks seem that their locations in the suburban areas would let the staff use
more private transport to drive down to them from many new residential developments
taking place in the vicinity. There seems to be little logic for these office blocks to provide
Figure 2-8 Kanjurmarg Station Area Source: Google Earth
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multiple levels of car-park. It is believed that these new constructions are taking place due
to the much widening and strengthening of the east-west link roads (orange dotted in the
previous figure) providing rare east-west connectivity across the width of the city in a linear
Mumbai city where most roads happen to run in the north-south direction. The green areas
highlighted areas in the previous figure are the locations of retail buildings. The one closer
to the station is a shopping mall and the one near the east-west link bridge is a 5-star hotel
(See figure below). Although the shopping mall which also houses a Cineplex, adds value to
the station area but the location of the new high-end hotel building at a busy traffic junction
seems to be out of place. There seems to be no co-ordinated development of this station
area and unfortunately this situation is being seen replicated in many other station precincts
of Mumbai where previously stood the big industrial units (dotted red in the previous figure)
surrounded by informal housing units.
The station access roads (shaded white in fig. 2-8) are too narrow and although there is a
small bus station at the access road in the north, it is barely wide enough to cater the recent
developments coming up alongside them. The situation is very similar to many other
stations in Mumbai, where buses, taxis, rickshaws all have to fight for space and the
pedestrians have to find their way
amongst them because most
pavements are taken over the
hawkers.
The developments of pedestrian access
routes to the station area are being
recently chalked out but due to their Figure 2-9 Skywalk at Kanjurmarg Station. Source: Multiple
43
inconvenient alignments, very few people are using them. Several skywalks are being built
all over the city without mapping the pedestrian routes or physically linking them with
functions, such as markets, public buildings or private office buildings (Schlaikjer, 2010).
Table 2-9 SWOT Analysis of Kanjurmarg Station Source: Author
Strengths The station is located at a very strategic road junction.
A very mixed-use development is taking place around it.
Weaknesses The station access points are poorly planned.
The station seems to be not integrated within scope of developments
taking place around it.
Opportunities There is still more land available and it just requires strengthening the
access points to make the station area.
The station building if revamped can become the focal point to the new
developments taking place around it.
Threats The concept of building skywalks can rob the street culture.
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3. Urban Transport for World Cities
3.1. Urban Rail Infrastructure
In Europe, most major cities are taking up redevelopment of their transport nodes, housing
stock to remain competitive and the city authorities have been working on it by seeking
more powers to finance and execute these redevelopment schemes on their own (Kreukels
& Spit, 1990) (Parkinson, Bianchini, Dawson, & Harding, 1991). These initiatives can be
justified due to combination of factors where policies want to lay an emphasis on more
environment friendly transport services and achieve efficient management of the land
resource for regeneration of local economies. The importance of infrastructure investments
has gathered much prominence. The property market can well be advantaged from effective
management of the transport corridors and its nodes but in Mumbai, the old transport
nodes are not been given its due importance. The development occurring around them is
very sporadic and often not planned in a comprehensive way. The example of Kanjurmarg
station explained in the previous chapter confirms that.
It is not to be forgotten that surface transport can assist its users in many ways. It not only
carries them from one place to another but helps to orient them to the urban fabric of the
whole city. The availability of credible and a very sustainable mode of mass transport is very
essential for any dense megacities of the world. Some 40% rail passengers, who arrive in
London, also use the underground (Bayliss, 2008). In Netherlands, 52% of all train
commuters cycle to their stations and 22% come walking (VROM, 1992). Urban rail systems
can set a new dimension to the city functions. Its availability can be of great advantage to its
users and the city in general. It hence becomes imperative that such a system must remain
in good shape and continue to offer better standards of mobility. The trains, the tracks they
45
run on and the stations they halt at are all required to act in symphony and re-equip
themselves to suit their users. The numerous stations have the ability to renew their
surrounding areas by augmenting various functions and assure a more sustainable
development. The design of these stations needs to deliver a wider social and economic
role. Its location and layout needs to adapt and assimilate into the urban layout for the
adjoining areas to be able to reap economic benefits. The stations are essentially public
buildings and a comprehensive observational research of its users can give the designers a
valid perspective. Following are case-studies of some stations in various parts of the world,
where their designs have evolved much to integrate with the areas they serve to forge
sustainable development and usher more public transport usage.
46
3.2 Case-studies
3.2.1 Stratford Station, London UK
Figure 3-1 London Rail Network Source: Transport for London website
London, the capital city of England is known world over for its well developed urban rail
network comprised of underground ‘tube’ trains, the over-ground trains, light rail and
trams, and to augment these services well, the city also has a large fleet of buses, water
taxis and car taxis.
London has a dedicated local government body called the ‘Transport for London’ which
manages these services and implements the various projects for delivering an effective
mode of transport to Londoners.
47
Table 3-3 Components of rail network, London Source: Transport for London website
Type Users/annual Lines Length Stations
Underground
‘Tube’
1065 million 11 402 270
Over ground 11 million 5 86kms 78
Light Rail ‘DLR’ 64 million 4 34kms 40
Tram
(Tramlink)
27 million 1 28kms 39
Total 1167 Million
3.5 million/day
21 550 427
London rail network has been continuously developing itself to suit the needs of millions of
passengers. Londoner gets to switch various modes of transport at the hundreds of London
transports’ network nodes. It can be assumed that most Londoners live at a walking
distance from a rail station or a bus stand and hence it can be substantiated that the public
transport in London is quite robust.
Architecturally, most stations follow definite design elements and set a uniform order. The
stations are equipped with escalators, lifts and many are being upgraded to be accessed by
disabled persons. The network lines run in all directions of the city and cover the suburban
area quite extensively. There are numerous interchanges on each rail line and they have
augmented the network quite effectively.
48
Stratford is a suburb of London and is located to the north east of London’s centre. The
station location is very strategic as the Olympic Village is coming just north to the station
area and the station is expected to cater large number of sports enthusiasts during the
games. The suburban area which this station serves is also experiencing major regeneration
and the station building was improved as a part of it. The East London is undergoing urban
renewal as the old docks are being developed to accommodate various new functions. The
end of 20th century saw this major change beginning to happen with London bagging the
opportunity to host the Olympics 2012. The Jubilee line of the London underground rail
network was extended from Green Park till Stratford. Some eleven stations were developed
in along this extension. The stations were to highlight new contemporary British
architectural trends. Stratford, a part of the Newham Council’s master- plan is going to
accommodate some 20,000 homes (See figure below) and to make it all sustainable, 46,000
jobs are going to get created along with addition and upgrading of civic amenities. New
schools, shops and other recreational facilities are going to be developed and going by the
recommendations of the biggest ever master-plan in Europe evolved for this east London
area of Stratford, it hints that these developments are going to get spun around the various
Stratford
London
Figure 3-2 Location: Stratford Station Source: Multiple
49
transport linkages which the area has been developing since some time now. It is believed
that currently the area is supported by the best transport linkages available in the whole of
UK (London Borough of Newham, 2011).
Figure 3-3 Master plan for Stratford Source: (London Borough of Newham, 2011)
50
It is certain that the Stratford station designed by Wilkinson Eyres Architects, commissioned
in the year 1994 is going to see its importance grow manifolds. The area is poised to serve
the eastern gateway for London city. The design studio was established in 1983 and has
built other projects like the South Quay foot bridge and the Floral Street Bridge (See figure
4) and was found to be suitable to design the layout for the station which would handle the
intra-city and inter-regional train services. The station was initially a part of Jubilee line
extension project and its now being brought under the scheme for the much bigger
regeneration of the area.
The brand new terminus building, serving the extended Jubilee line is built by replacing an
old underground station (Powell, 2000). The station is a complex interchange serving four
lines, the Underground Central line and the over ground North London Line, the Jubilee line
and the DLR (Docklands Light Rail). The project was envisaged to engage the area with a
new planning layout. The North London Line runs cutting across the station building and it
were a major challenge to assimilate the line into the building design.
The quarter elliptical building form resting on four inconspicuous pillars opens on the south
and is enclosed by a tapering glass curtain-wall which guarantees ample daylight
penetration. The curved profile tapering onto the north casts negligible shadows. The
station befits its comparison with a ‘shining jewel’ (Powell, 2001)
51
The interiors of the curving profile have been well highlighted
by wide strips of lights running along the top of the entrance
canopy which stretches throughout the station frontage.
Outside the station area (see figure 3) is ample public space
which gets linked to the bus station where the white Teflon
awnings forms its roof. The scale of the bus station seems
adequate and serves to be a major inter-modal connectivity
for the station. The pedestrian route at the south-east of the
station is guided through a high street retail complex on
whose roof is a multi level car-park. This allows the station
building to maintain its individuality and at the same time
achieves a very orderly management of functions. It can be
assumed that the station building is not laden with too many
functions apart from serving the commuters taking the
trains on four separate lines is that the station is later going
to cater the huge crowds who will be coming to the Olympic
Sports complex, currently under construction and post
Olympics may continue to attract crowds into a major
shopping complex also currently under construction. Along
with creation of retail spaces, numerous housing units,
schools, a university and other amenities are planned in the
area, earlier was a brown-field site belonging to the rail
companies (London Borough of Newham, 2011).
Figure 3-5 Interiors of Stratford Station Source: (Powell, The Jubilee Line Extension, 2000)
Strengths The elevated stations save a lot of ground space.
The use of same and elegant station design helps create a better image for
the city.
Weaknesses The entry and exit points from the sidewalks can be tricky in congested
areas of the city
The stations do not form direct physical linkages with the surrounding built
form.
Opportunities The scope of an elevated rail line over the busy roads can greatly decongest
traffic and encourage more public transport usage.
The surrounding areas near the stations can greatly benefit by the provision
of better and clean mode of transport.
Threats Insensitive Street level Integration
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4. Conclusions- Design Guidelines for the Mumbai Rail Stations and Precincts
The first two chapters have duly highlighted how important are the rail services for Mumbai
and the present status of it is proving very inadequate to cater the needs of a rising
population. The case-studies in chapter two clearly mention that although the development
authorities are trying innovative ways to tackle the congestion at these stations, their
outcomes have barely been appreciated. This is partly because these improvements have
not been carried out by keeping in perspective the needs of the users and the built
environment which surrounds these stations. Building of skywalks and elevated roads, decks
can deteriorate the quality of life on the street levels and can result their redundancy if they
fail to attract users due to the poor and inadequate planning. These are public spaces and
no amount of aesthetics can welcome people to use it unless they are practical and
convenient to use. In case of many new iconic stations coming up in New Mumbai, big
forecourts are being provided for effective integration with other modes of transport such
Figure 4-1 Mumbai Stations (Clockwise) Office blocks above Vashi Station, Iconic Turbhe Station, Motorbike parking at Thane Station, Car parking on the roof of Khargar Station and Elevated bus station outside Thane Station. Source: Multiple
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as buses, taxis and auto rickshaws; multiple levels over the tracks are provided for office
space use and at few stations ample car and motorbike parking has been provided (see
figure 4-1).
The provision of these facilities is not consistent across all stations and also where provided
are not serving their purpose. These station areas need an effective integration with various
aspects of urban life. They can be shopping centres, places offering leisure and
entertainment facilities, an effective inter-modal transport facility apart from being a
railway station.
Mumbai suburban stations need an amalgamated kind of architecture which supports all
possible kind of functions and activities within and around them as discussed in the chapter
three. The station areas need to be served by a mixed use of land resources as in the case of
Stratford, and also accommodate many allied functions within itself, very similar to Kyoto
railway station and be just as elegant and functional by the use of prefabricated structural
elements order, scale and aesthetics which the Glazenberg station stands for. Equal care
should be taken while building elevated walks, rail lines and stations by keeping their
structures elegant and versatile as in the case of Bangkok’s light rail stations. Such
comparisons may set the direction for possible intervention of station architecture in
Mumbai.
Rail stations need to be designed in context with their users and the scope of designing
them should go beyond the perimeters of the station building and extend into their
precincts. The nature of built environment surrounding the station buildings can have both
good and bad effect on the functioning of these key public buildings. The aim of this chapter
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is to suggest guidelines for the effective designing of station buildings and later for design
and managements of their precincts.
4.1 Rail Stations
The design and planning of rail stations are more or less dictated by the circulation patterns
which allow its user to enter and exit these station buildings to board and disembark off the
trains which halt at these stations. This experience between the stretches of this activity can
largely influence the usage of rail services. The station design has to provide comfort and
safety.
4.1.1 Internal Circulation
The insides of a typical rail station are of regular ticket counters and then concourses
leading to the various long platforms. The ticketing area is the first point of interface for a
passenger with the station. The designing of this interface has to be distinctly visible and
elegant. Bold and aesthetically designed station canopies can provide that much needed
visibility and shelter from the harsh sun and rains in the open. The access within the station
has to be friendly for all types of users such as elderly and disabled people. Once inside the
station building, the ticketing counters can be located well within a few steps and
considering the amounts of people using the train services in Mumbai as of now ample area
are required to be provided for queuing . However there is a limitation to the amount of
space which can be provided in the ticketing area at Mumbai rail stations because many
long queues are a regular sight at most stations and hence faster dispensation of tickets
through various credible methods should be considered. In Mumbai, ticket vending
machines, coupon validating machines and even touch-card machines (See figure 4-2) have
been provided on the lines of London’s Oyster card but these systems are badly managed.
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They are simply not designed to cater the
huge number of users. Most fail to work
within months of their installation or in
the case of touch-card system, the
machines are rarely being located at key
access points to the stations and also go
faulty as they get exposed to the harsh
hot and humid climate and the torrential
rains, Mumbai witnesses during the
monsoon season. The ticketing system needs to be remodelled on the lines of London tube,
where every passenger entering the core area of the station has to pass through the card
validators and owing to these stations catering huge crowds during morning hours, the area
assigned to accommodate these validators should be wide enough. The use of these
validators can also act as barrier controls to regulate the number of the passengers entering
the core areas of the rail stations. For an effective regulation of crowds, it is however
required that these barriers cum validators are manned as it is in the case of London
stations. Also the other modes of tickets availed should allow passengers to enter the
station core areas by validating their tickets at these barriers. This may work well in London
where there are far few people using the rail services along different lines and many more
stations as against in Mumbai, where only three rail lines cater almost 7 million daily users
at just 120 Stations (see table 1-2 of the Chapter 1). The system designed for Mumbai needs
to be more effective to cater almost double the numbers compared to London. This only
hints at designing wide enough access points to the stations core areas. The use of such a
system won’t require many ticket counters but wider access points which if located along
Figure 4-2, Various ticketing options, Mumbai Suburban rail, Source: Multiple
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the concourses can result into better regulation of passenger flows and avoiding of
bottlenecks. In case of Mumbai’s Rail stations, the train services are 12-car long and they
carry 5000 people at a time during peak hours when they are allowed to carry just half that
number (Bhagat, 2011). This has resulted in platforms as long as 270m.
A detailed study can be carried out to ascertain the number of passengers enter and exit a
particular station during the rush hours and then the internal spaces be designed
accordingly. Factors such as user density, ticketing, rush hour times and disabled persons
accessibility should be considered while designing circulation areas. Barrier control systems,
speedy ticketing methods and ensuring of unobstructed spaces can help better circulation
of people (Edwards, 1997). These spaces should be calculated for a minimum of 1
sq.m/passenger (Godward, 1992). Apart from providing zones for ticketing, the stations are
also to provide platforms and to access these have to design effective means of vertical and
horizontal movement of
passengers through stairs and
concourses.
The figure 4-3, indicates the
typical section for most
suburban rail stations in
Mumbai. The foot-over bridges
are usually provided for
movement of passengers
between platforms and sides of
the station but with adding of new lines for a separate freight and express train corridor