A new Government Railway Police station has opened at Ambernath railway station, creating a local point for passengers from Ambernath, Badlapur and Ulhasnagar to report crimes and seek immediate assistance without travelling to Kalyan. The station was inaugurated on Platform 1 by Prashant Burde, director general of railway police, according to Loksatta – Thane.
The new Ambernath Railway Police Station has jurisdiction over three busy suburban railway stations: Ulhasnagar, Ambernath and Badlapur. The move is intended to strengthen passenger security and improve access to railway policing on the Kalyan-Karjat route, where passenger traffic is high and trains are frequently crowded.
Before the new station became operational, railway police stations on this stretch were located only at Kalyan and Karjat, the report said. Passengers facing incidents such as mobile-phone theft, pickpocketing, harassment of women or other offences at Ambernath, Badlapur or Ulhasnagar generally had to travel to Kalyan to register a complaint.
That distance created an additional burden for commuters dealing with an incident during or after a journey. It could also result in lost time and, in some cases, complaints not being formally registered, the report said. The new station is expected to give passengers a closer channel for reporting offences and seeking help.
The station has been newly constructed at Ambernath station and is described as being equipped with modern technology. Senior railway police officials said personnel would focus on the security of women passengers, theft-related incidents and the challenges created by increasing crowding on trains.
The development also changes the administrative distribution of railway policing along the route. With Ambernath, Badlapur and Ulhasnagar placed within the new station’s jurisdiction, the workload handled by the Kalyan railway police is expected to reduce. This is intended to allow a more localised response to incidents across the three stations.
The opening comes as suburban stations on the Central Railway network continue to serve large numbers of daily passengers. For commuters, the immediate change is the availability of a railway police station at Ambernath itself rather than a requirement to travel to Kalyan for every complaint arising within the new jurisdiction.
Railway police officials expressed confidence at the inauguration that the station would help control crime and provide faster assistance to passengers. The new station will now handle railway security and passenger complaints across its designated jurisdiction covering Ulhasnagar, Ambernath and Badlapur.
