“Evaluation of Parking Demand at Valsad Railway Station”

Abstract

India is fastest developing major economy in the world. Gujarat is India’s one of the leading developing state with increasing industrial and economic development. For holistic development of any region it is necessary to have a balanced transportation system. Along with this, Gujarat has good network of railway connectivity. Due to this, many passengers uses Railway for travelling from one place to another. The one of the busiest railway line connecting economic capital Mumbai and political capital Delhi is passing through Gujarat. Valsad is one of the important and busy railway stations on Mumbai- Delhi and Ahmadabad – Mumbai railway line. Many people of Valsad are working in nearby cities like Mumbai, Vapi and Surat etc. Hence, people widely use Railway as a mode of transportation. Salary class and Students prefer railway due to vast availability, comfort and cheaper fares. Most of these people use two wheelers or other vehicles to reach the Railway station from their homes and they use to park their vehicles in the area near by the railway station. In peak hour, like early morning and evening there is high parking demand occurs at Railway Station and people use to park their vehicles outside the parking area. Hence, to avoid this type of scenario proper parking facilities are required. At Valsad Railway Station, as per field observation parking facilities are insufficient. Commuters use to park their vehicles on the periphery of the roads and on walkway which results in traffic jam condition in and around railway station area. So, parking demand evaluation is necessary at Valsad Railway Station. To evaluate parking demand license plate method, parking space inventory and parking usage survey by petrol were conducted. For the valsad railway station the total three numbers of parking lots. Parking lot-A and lot-B for two wheelers and lot-C for four wheelers are being analyzed and the parking demand analysis for three lots is performed. As per the finding the parking demand on normal day for Lot-A (two-wheeler parking) Parking Index is more than one the capacity, same way for Lot-B (two-wheeler parking). Parking accumulation analysis for Lot-A & Lot –B is over utilized from morning 9:00 am to evening 8:30 pm. To study the demand different parking surveys will be used to obtain clear scenario of the present parking situation and future suggestion to ease the parking demand.