It’s official: Mumbai’s newest railway station in Oshiwara to be named ‘Ram Mandir’

The Government of Maharashtra of Friday finalized the name of Mumbai’s newest suburban railway station as ‘Ram Mandir’, after the locality where it is situated.

On November 15, Goregaon MLA Vidya Thakur had written to CM Devendra Fadnavis and demanded that the station be named Ram Mandir.

“The vicinity near Goregaon, where this station is coming up, is called as Ram Mandir, and so, the locals have demanded renaming of the new station as Ram Mandir (instead of Oshiwara). We want you to send the demand to the Home ministry,” her letter read.

BJP’s ally, Shiv Sena, also wanted the CM to consider changing the name from Oshiwara to Ram Mandir station. Fadnavis agreed to the name earlier today and, in a letter to railway authorities, notified them about the same.

The new station is coming up between Goregaon and Jogeshwari stations, and and is likely to provide some much needed relief to commuters travelling on the western line. It will be the 37th station on WR’s suburban network

Commuters boarding trains from Jogeshwari and Andheri stations during morning peak hours will benefit the most from lesser crowds, as railway authorities have decided to halt the slow trains at Oshiwara.

WR has already accounted for the halts at Oshiwara station by keeping a buffer of 30 seconds in the new timetable.

The station was proposed under phase-I of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project and has been under construction for almost a decade. But, protests by locals and inability to halt services led to the project’s delay.

Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu is scheduled to inaugurate the newly-constructed station on Sunday, November 27 at 1 pm.

Once the extension from Andheri to Goregaon is complete by March 31, trains running on the Harbour line will also halt at Ram Mandir station.