If you have been to Mumbai’s Bandra suburb lately, you would have noticed roads ripped open, traffic diversions at nearly every turn, and stretches of one of the city’s most upscale neighbourhoods resembling a war zone. That’s Bandra West for you. Now, Bandra East has joined the overhaul to turn the suburb into a connectivity hub, easing pressure on suburban local trains and bringing commuters closer to Mumbai’s upcoming Bullet Train station at Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC).

The Western Railway on Tuesday launched a massive four-day demolition drive at Garib Nagar, a slum settlement hugging the tracks near Bandra East station.

The cleared land will be used for critical suburban rail upgrades. Western Railway plans to expand the fifth and sixth lines on the Santacruz-Mumbai Central corridor. This long-pending project aims to ease severe commuter congestion on local trains, improve overall rail operations, and allow for 50 new originating trains from Mumbai.

In the demolition drive, over 400 unauthorised structures, including houses and shops, spread over roughly 500 metres are being cleared. The eviction drive follows a Bombay High Court order permitting the removal of illegal encroachments while directing authorities to protect the rights of eligible residents.

According to railway officials and court records, only about 100 inhabitants identified as eligible in baseline surveys conducted on August 10 and 11, 2021, qualify for rehabilitation. These legal residents have already been or will be provided alternative accommodation by the state.

The rest will be evicted from the prime business and transport hub. Visuals from the site showed heavy machinery, debris being hauled away, and a strong police presence ensuring smooth operations.

Additional space that the massive eviction drive will achieve will be used to connect Bandra suburban station more seamlessly with Bandra Terminus and segregate suburban services from long-distance ones. Currently, the distance between Bandra Terminus and Bandra suburban station is approximately 1.5-2 km, depending on your route.

The Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) has also auctioned nearby prime land for modernisation and commercial redevelopment.

For Mumbaikars and outsiders alike, it’s a very big transformation, right next to one of India’s most ambitious projects. The Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train station is coming up in Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), just a stone’s throw away.

BKC, which is Mumbai’s new Central Business District (CBD) with skyscrapers and MNC offices, has turned chaotic due to the massive underground station construction. Yet, when completed, this high-speed hub will sit at the heart of an upgraded transit network.

It must be noted that the nearby Dharavi, one of Asia’s largest slums, is also undergoing phased redevelopment and demolitions as part of a massive Rs 95,000-crore project. In the coming years, the slums will completely cease to exist in this part of Mumbai.

Mumbai’s BKC will, in the coming years, become a modern multimodal centre. The Mumbai Metro’s Aqua Line (Line 3) already connects it efficiently to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport terminals — in just 10-15 minutes. Existing road infrastructure is solid, and improved local trains will bring commuters even closer.

This gives BKC a convergence of three transit projects, which are: suburban rail expansion, metro connectivity, high-speed rail.

Bandra, as a suburb, will have fewer bottlenecks, better last-mile options to the Bullet Train station, and reduced pressure on the overburdened Western Line and the Western Express Highway.

Residents in Garib Nagar and nearby areas like Dharavi have voiced their frustration. Many slum dwellers, some living here for generations, feel the system notices them only during election season. The Bombay High Court has emphasised rehabilitation for the eligible, but the human stories behind the unauthorised structures show that the trade-offs in Mumbai’s development are brutal.

Authorities have maintained that the drive is essential for long-term public benefit. The Bombay High Court had in 2021 observed that unchecked settlements and garbage threaten railway infrastructure.

Project by project, the Mumbai suburb is shedding its old skin.

Source: India Today