A year after stampede, Elphinstone station to be renamed as Prabhadevi

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, July 18

Nearly a year after a stampede claimed 23 lives, the Elphinstone Road railway station at central Mumbai will be renamed with effect from midnight tonight, according to the Western Railway.

Elphinstone Road railway station will be renamed Prabhadevi from July 19, WR said in a statement here.

The renaming was officially due on September 29 last year.

But it was postponed after a stampede just a few hours before the event claimed 23 lives.

Commuters who were taking shelter on the narrow foot overbridges from the rain lost their balance due to the crowd and were crushed to death.

Following the mishap, the Railways roped in the Army to build a bigger bridge which was commissioned earlier this year.

Work on creating several more passenger amenities are on at the station which connects to Parel railway station on the Central Railway whose lines run parallel here.

While the station was originally named after Lord Elphinstone, a former governor of the Bombay province, Prabhadevi is a well-known neighbourhood temple which is about 300 years old.