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• In order to facilitate construction of new railway tracks, platforms and foot overbridges, huge hoardings near some railway stations in the city are being pulled down by the authorities.A Western Railway official said there was an urgent need to enhance passenger services and introduce 30 to 50 more trains in the suburbs. "We are also planning to extend the Harbour line from Andheri to Goregaon and then extend it up to Borivli. For this, we are removing hoardings in the Andheri-Goregaon belt," he said.
• "For example, the large hoardings outside the booking office in Andheri are no longer visible. They were removed as we plan to construct a railway line on the left side of platform no. 1," he added. This means that just like Santa Cruz railway station, Andheri station too would be islanded with passengers accessing the platform (no. 1) by a foot overbridge in near future.The official, however, said that the contracts for the hoardings had not been cancelled. "We have allotted alternative locations to the contractors to put up the advertisements. We cannot afford to remove them completely as it fetches good revenue for the Western Railway," he stated.
• Hoardings have also been removed at other places like Charni Road to facilitate the construction of FOBs.WR chief public relations officer Sharat Chandrayan said, "We are constructing a new pedestrian bridge at Charni Road that will be wider. Since there is a change in alignment, we are shifting it to a new space and for that some hoardings in the area are being pulled down."Another official stated that at some stations, the hoardings were being removed to allow redevelopment or extension of platforms. "These are temporary measures and the hoardings may come up again once the platform work is completed," the official said.
• Hoardings fetch huge revenue for the railways. In the recent past, it had become a bone of contention between the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the railways as the two bodies were divided over the revenue-sharing formula. The BMC had accused the railways of cluttering public spaces with hoardings "without adhering to guidelines".According to the BMC guidelines, there should be a gap of 20m between two hoardings and they cannot be put up without erecting a pole. However, a railway official said that the department was not obliged to take any permission from the BMC and had a separate railway department to monitor all hoardings in its premises.

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