BY DEBAJYOTI CHAKRABORTY
KOLKATA, 3 APRIL 2023:
The railways has released the first look of the sketch of the upcoming Rs.496 crores revamped Asansol Station today.
Already the Railway Board has approved the the Rs.496 project to upgrade the Asansol Railway Station under Eastern Railways into a world class station like an airport.
The modernisation project of Asansol railway Station will be completed within 2026.
Mr. Ashish Bharadwaj, Chief Engineer of Construction department of Eastern Railways has informed that the railway board has recently sanctioned the Detail Project Report (DPR) and the drawing. The tender process has also been finalised.
Howrah, Bandel, Kolkata, Bhagalpur, Jasidih stations will also be converted into world class railway stations like airports, according to the upgradation plan of the Indian railways.
Already five agencies have been engaged for drawing and architecture
for the upcoming revamped railway stations. The project planning work of Kolkata
station upgradation is currently going on and it will take some more time, officials said.
The estimated cost of renovation of Howrah station has been around Rs.1000 crores, and the rest of the stations will be around Rs.300 crores to Rs.400 crores.
All these stations will be completely air conditioned and also all the platforms of
Asansol station will be 108 metres in length and will have foot over bridges.
All modern amenities available in airports like rest rooms, cafeterias, separate entry and exit gates, food courts, lifts and escalators, CCTV, baggage scanners, car parking facilities, vehicle e charging points, decorated circulating areas etc.
The present station main building of Asansol Station is a heritage building and the upgradation and renovation work will take place without disturbing the heritage building portion.
It should be noted that Asansol is the 8 th busiest railway station of Indian Railways and
the annual passenger increase is about 8 to 10 percent. The station handles about 10,000 passengers and 171 trains daily at present . The railway station building was set up in 1885.
Already, a shopping plaza – Payal Shopping Plaza and Payen Inn Hotel has been set up at the station area and is set to be inaugurated soon. Another shopping mall is coming up in front of DRM office in Asansol.
Asansol is the second largest city in West Bengal after Kolkata and is also the headquarters of Paschim Bardhaman District. It is the most profit making division of Eastern Railway.
The Indian Railways have already set up world class airport like railway stations in GandhiNagar Capital Station in Gujarat and Habibganj railway Station in Bhopal of Madhya Pradesh and the Sir Visvesvaraya Railway Terminal in Bengaluru in Karnataka. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated all these station projects.
The Habibganj Railway Station, set up at a cost of Rs.450 crores last year and was modelled on Heidelberg Railway Station in Germany. A five star hotel has been set up above the railway tracks in Gandhi Nagar Capital Station.
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