Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday laid the foundation stone and inaugurated over 2000 railway infrastructure projects worth about Rs 41,000 crore. Railways has created history by organizing the world’s largest redevelopment program. This is the first time that Railways has organized this program simultaneously at more than 2000 places in which more than 4 lakh people participated. In these, more than 5090 MPs, Chief Ministers of 11 states, 8 Deputy Chief Ministers besides Governors and Lieutenant Governors of many states participated.
Amrit Bharat Station Development Program was organized at Tilak Bridge Railway Station, Delhi. On this occasion, Lieutenant Governor of Delhi VK Saxena and Union Minister of State Meenakshi Lekhi were present. The railway infrastructure projects for which Prime Minister Modi laid the foundation stone and inaugurated through video conferencing include Northern Railway’s Ballabhgarh, Faridabad New Town, Gohana, Gurugram, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut City Junction, Palwal, Tilak Bridge, Baijnath Paprola, Moga, Beas. Junction, Jalandhar City Junction, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra, Akbarpur Junction, Babatpur, Badshahpur, Bharatkund, Chilbila Junction, Gauriganj, Haidergarh, Jaunpur City, Kanpur Bridge Left Bank, Kunda Harnamganj, Lalganj, Lambhua, Lohta, Malhaur, Manak Nagar, 43 railway stations are included including Madiyahu, Mohanlalganj, Nihalgarh, Phaphamau, Shivpur, Shri Krishna Nagar, Takiya, Unchahar, Vyasnagar, Amla, Balamau Junction, Bulandshahr, Garhmukteshwar, Kotdwar and Seohara.
Apart from this, out of 92 ROB/RUB of Northern Railway, 56 are in Uttar Pradesh, 17 in Haryana, 13 in Punjab, 4 in Delhi, 1 in Himachal Pradesh and 1 in Jammu and Kashmir. 43 ROBs and RUBs will be constructed in Lucknow division, 30 in Delhi, 10 in Firozpur, 7 in Ambala and 2 in Moradabad division. This will eliminate manned level crossings. This will increase safety in train operations and mobility of trains. Road users will also get relief from the problem of jam at Gumti.
Stations will be equipped with world class facilities
The objective of Amrit Bharat Station Scheme is to prepare a master plan for railway stations and enhance facilities. By implementing the master plan in several phases, Railways will provide better facilities to the passengers. The waiting hall will be clubbed and passengers will be provided with good cafeteria facilities. High level platforms will be provided at all categories of stations. The roads around the station will be widened.
Better design will be done by removing unwanted structures. There will be facilities of walking path, well-planned parking area, better lighting system on the platform and station. The access roads to the station will be improved. Facilities for the disabled will also be provided at the stations. In the scheme, along with the introduction of new facilities, existing facilities will be improved. Railways will also provide modern facilities like airports to the poor and middle class people at railway stations.
These stations will act as “city centres”, connecting the two sides of the city. These will have modern passenger amenities like roof plaza, beautiful landscaping, inter-modal connectivity, excellent station frontage, children’s play area, kiosks, food courts. These will be redeveloped as environment friendly and disabled friendly. The design of these station buildings will be inspired by local culture, heritage and architecture.
In future, in view of the increasing number of passengers, arrival and departure facilities will be separated at this station. The centrally air-conditioned station will have modern passenger amenities like air concourse, congestion free circulation, food court and adequate parking in upper and lower basement.
