Mumbai's tragedy-struck Elphinstone Road Station to be renamed Prabhadevi 

Twenty-two people died and over 30 sustained injuries in a stampede on a foot overbridge at Mumbai's Elphinstone Railway Station in Parel on Friday.
Elphinstone Road Station (AFP)
Elphinstone Road Station (AFP)

Twenty-two people died and over 30 sustained injuries in a stampede on a foot overbridge at Mumbai's Elphinstone Railway Station in Parel in the suburban section of Western Railway on Friday around 10:30 am, according to media reports.

The incident occurred at around 9.30 a.m. here at a north foot over bridge.

Commuters panicked upon hearing a rumour that a bridge had collapsed, eyewitnesses said. According to some others, there was a short circuit leading to overcrowding on the bridge.

  • The station was named Elphinstone Road Station in honour of John Elphinstone who served as the Governor of Bombay from 1853 to 1860. 

  • The Elphinstone Road station on the Western railway was renamed as Prabhadevi after the Hindu goddess Prabhavati Devi in July this year. The move was a part of the state and Centre's joint station renaming spree. 

  • The name-change proposal was passed on December 16, 2016, during the winter session of the Maharashtra Assembly in Nagpur.

  • The Elphinstone Road station is the nearest access point for the newly developed business district of Lower Parel.

  • The foot-overbridge that leads to the exit from the station also connects the Parel station on suburban section of Central Railway.

  • The station has just one set of platforms – one and two – for commuters on which only slow trains (suburban) halt.

  • Western and Central Railway are the lifeline of Mumbai, as lakhs of office workers commute on it, most of them by the suburban trains.

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