Indian
Railways – World Class stations
Though the
announcement for making important railway stations of the country into world
class stations was made in the year 2009, but the project has been on the
backburner ever since. Fifty (50) railway stations have been selected for the
renovation, including stations of Varanasi, Lucknow, Allahabad, Mathura, Agra
Cantt, Jhansi, Gorakhpur and Kanpur.
It is noteworthy
that the plan for the world class station accounted to bring the existing
stations up to the international standards in terms of efficiency of operations,
comfort and convenience to passengers and the stakeholders. A number of
stations of Indian Railways, located at metropolitan cities and important
centers were identified for development through public, private partnership
(PPP) model. The modern facilities like construction of hotels and rest houses
to accommodate 1,000 people, restaurants, shopping complex, modernised parking,
acoustic environment, advanced ticketing, public address system and
entertainment arenas were also proposed in it.
It was also
expected that once the project gets completed, these stations will be vibrant centers of city commerce,
entertainment and social space. When TOI tried to take stock of the status of
the project,it surfaced that the proposal of conversion of Cantonment railway
station of Varanasi into a world class railway station is losing hope.
According to sources, cities like Delhi and Lucknow have also not got the work
started so Varanasi is lagging way behind. Former railway board chairman, Vinay Mittal had already
hinted that no work for the Delhi station could be undertaken due to several
problems being faced in extension of the station premises. The sources revealed
that several places of worship were coming in the way of extension and similar
problems are expected to surface in Varanasi and Lucknow stations.
After the
announcement of this ambitious project no correspondence or official
formalities for this purpose was made at Varanasi railway station so far,
informed the chief area manager, Cantonment railway station, PK Saxena.
However, senior divisional commercial manager (DCM), Lucknow division, NR, AK Srivastava, said, "It is not
that the plan for world class station will not be enforced, but so far there is
no guideline or step taken in this regard. I am not aware of what is hindering
the work on New Delhi railway station but it is definitely a difficult task to
undertake massive renovation work at a fully functional railway station".
He further said that to keep up with the works related to world class railway
station, an office was established in New Delhi, however, it has not under
taken any significant work as of now.
50 Stations identified for
development as World Class Stations
|
Railway
|
Number
and name of the stations
|
|
Central
|
(4) Thane, Nagpur, Pune & CST Mumbai
|
|
Eastern
|
(5) Howrah, Bolpur, Kolkata, Majehat &
Sealdah
|
|
Northern
|
(10) Ambala, Amritsar, Anand Vihar (Delhi),
Bijwasan (Delhi), Chandigarh, Jammu, Lucknow, Ludhiana, New Delhi &
Varanasi
|
|
Southern
|
(5) Chennai, Kozhikode, Mangalore, Ernakulam
& Thiruvanathapuram
|
|
South Central
|
(2) Secunderabad & Tirupathi
|
|
Western
|
(3) Ahmedabad, Porbundar & Surat
|
|
East Central
|
(2) Patna & Gaya
|
|
North Central
|
(5) Mathura, Agra Cantt, Kanpur Central,
Jhansi & Allahabad
|
|
East Coast
|
(2) Bhubneshwar & Puri
|
|
South Western
|
(3) Bangalore City, Bangalore (Baiyapanahalli)
& Goa
|
|
West Central
|
(3) Bhopal, Habibganj & Kota
|
|
North Eastern
|
(1)
Gorakhpur
|
|
North Western
|
(2)
Ajmer & Jaipur
|
|
Northeast Frontier
|
(2)
Guwahati & New Jalpaiguri
|
|
South Eastern
|
(1) Kharagpur
|
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