*Master Plans being prepared for development of stations as ‘City Centres’ with proper integration of both sides of the city
*Integrated approach driven by holistic vision of overall urban development of the city, centred around the railway station
*Design of station building to be inspired by local culture, heritage and architecture
By DEBAJYOTI CHAKRABORTY
NEW DELHI, 4 AUGUST 2023:
In a major initiative, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for redevelopment of 508 railway stations across the length and breadth of the country on 6th August at 11 AM via video conferencing.
Prime Minister has often laid stress on provision of state-of-the-art public transport. Noting that railways is the preferred mode of transport of people across the country, he has emphasised on the importance of providing world class amenities at railway stations. Guided by this vision, the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme was launched to redevelop 1309 stations across the country.
As part of this scheme, the foundation stone for redevelopment of 508 stations is being laid by the Prime Minister. These stations will be redeveloped at a cost of more than Rs 24,470 crores. Master Plans are being prepared for development of these stations as ‘City Centres’, with proper integration of both sides of the city. This integrated approach is driven by the holistic vision of overall urban development of the city, centred around the railway station.
These 508 stations are spread across 27 states and union territories, including 55 each in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, 49 in Bihar, 44 in Maharashtra, 37 in West Bengal, 34 in Madhya Pradesh, 32 in Assam, 25 in Odisha, 22 in Punjab, 21 each in Gujarat and Telangana, 20 in Jharkhand, 18 each in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, 15 in Haryana, 13 in Karnataka among others.
The redevelopment will provide modern passenger amenities along with ensuring well designed traffic circulation, inter-modal integration and well designed signage for guidance of passengers. The design of the station buildings will be inspired by local culture, heritage and architecture.
WEST BENGAL (34) :
Out of 34 railway stations in West Bengal, 28 falls under Eastern Railway. Among these 28 Railway Stations of Eastern Railway, 21 Stations are in West Bengal, 5 Stations are in Bihar and 2 Stations are in Jharkhand.
The total cost for re-development of these 28 stations over Eastern Railway is approximately Rs. 1187 crore of which highest investment is for Asansol station to the tune of Rs.431 crore, the second highest allocation of Rs.64.2 crore is for Barddhaman station, third highest allocation of Rs.43.0 crore for Malda Town station, Rs.38.6 crore for Rampurhat Jn., Rs.33.6 crore for Katwa Jn. and so on.
A thorough redevelopment has been planned for Asansol station with completely new station premises with a built up area of more than 33000 sq.mtrs., airport like separate arrival & departure blocks at both sides of the station , provision of 108 metre wide elevated concourse having an area of 13240 square metres , 20 new lifts, 18 escalators, significantly designed circulating area with parking facility, landscaping and development of green area etc.
Recently, the Indian railways have released the sketch of redevelopment project of Asansol Station. Asansol is the eighth busiest railway station in the country and annual passenger increase is about 8 to 10 percent.
Already, PM Narendra Modi has inaugurated three stations – Gandhi Nagar Capital railway Station in Gujarat, which boasts the first five star hotel above the railway tracks in India, Rani Kamalapati Railway Station in Habibganj in Bhopal, modeled on Heidelberg Railway Station of Germany and Sir Visvesvaraya Railway Terminal in Bengaluru. All are world class state of the art railway stations like airports.
The speech of foundation stone laying ceremony of the PM will be live telecasted on giant screens of these railway station platforms.
The redevelopment works of the stations will be completed by 2026 and tenders have been floated.
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