PM Modi to lay foundation stone for 28 stations over Eastern Railway under Rs 704 crore scheme on Feb 26

Kolkata (West Bengal): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for 28 stations over Eastern Railway under Rs 704 crore scheme on February 26, said General Manager Eastern Railway Milind K Deouskar on Saturday at Eastern Railway Headquarters here.

Deouskar was briefing reporters about the ongoing development work of Eastern Railway in particular and about the redevelopment of stations and construction of Road Overbridges (ROBs)/ underpasses over Indian Railways in general for ease of movement as well as providing more facilities and amenities to the passengers. 

At the press meet Deouskar said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going to lay the foundation stone for 28 stations over Eastern Railway under this scheme at a cost of Rs 704 crore on February 26.

Milind K Deouskar said, "With the vision towards ‘Viksit Rail, Viksit Bharat 2047’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for redevelopment of 508 stations under the 'Amrit Bharat Station Scheme' in 27 states on August 6, 2023. Marching ahead further in this direction, Prime Minister is going to lay the foundation stone for 28 stations over Eastern Railway under this scheme at a cost of Rs 704 crore on February 26, 2024."

He said that in Bandel station major redevelopment work is proposed to transform it into a world-class station with all modern facilities and amenities at an estimated cost of Rs 307 crore.

"Eastern Railway has put a big thrust in infrastructure development over its jurisdiction. Spanning from new lines to the construction of Road Under Bridges (RUBs), Road Over Bridges (ROBs) and redevelopment of stations under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, a mammoth work is going on over the Eastern Railway. Focusing on infrastructure, Eastern Railway has completed the Rampurhat – Murarai 3rd Line (29.48 KM) successfully and has already commissioned on December 21, 2023," he said.

He said that in this financial year a 2-lane section (Kumardubi – Mugma) and 13 ROBs have been opened. He said that Eastern Railway is committed to providing modern amenities and world-class facilities to train passengers, aligning with global standards.

He said that in line with this vision, Eastern Railway has undertaken the redevelopment of several stations across its Sealdah, Howrah, Asansol, and Malda divisions. "Ministry of Railways has launched the ‘Amrit Bharat Station scheme’ for the development of Stations on Indian Railways. This scheme envisages the development of stations on a continuous basis with a long-term approach," he said.

He said that it involves the preparation of Master Plans and their implementation in phases to improve the amenities at the stations like improvement of station access, circulating areas, waiting halls, toilets, lift/escalators as necessary, cleanliness, free Wi-Fi, kiosks for local products through schemes like ‘One Station One Product’, better passenger information systems, executive lounges, nominated spaces for business meetings, landscaping etc. keeping in view the necessity at each such station.

Notably, under the 'Amrit Bharat Station Scheme,' selected stations in the selected divisions will receive upgraded passenger facilities, including wide foot-over bridges (FOBs), frontage improvements, spacious waiting areas, surveillance through CCTV cameras, food kiosks, divyangjan-friendly toilets, ramps, signages and escalators.

"Stations in the Sealdah division, including Bangaon Jn., Barasat, Dum Dum Jn, Gede, Kalyani, Madhyamgram, Naihati Jn., Sonarpur Jn. with total project cost of Rs. 121.47 Cr. is allocated for which foundation stone will be laid on February 26, 2024," he further said.

He further said that stations in the Howrah Divisions viz., Bally, Chandannagar, Dankuni, Khagraghat Road, Sainthia Jn., with total project cost Rs. 78.14 Cr. Asansol Division viz. Basukinath, Deoghar, Dumka, Jamtara, Panagarh, Shankarpur, Vidyasagar with project cost Rs. 93.71 Cr. and Malda Division viz. Banka, Dhulian Ganga, Godda, Jangipur Road, Munger, Sabour, Shivanarayanpur with project cost Rs. 104.0 Cr. is allocated.

"Bandel is an important station of the Eastern Railway. It is a junction station in the Howrah Division connecting Howrah at one end and branch lines opening towards Barddhaman, Katwa and Naihati stations. This station has commercial importance and are going to be redeveloped into world class stations at an investment of Rs 307 crore," he said.

He said that the future redevelopment plan at Bandel includes development to international standards, iconic station building with facilities to cater for another 50 years, a spacious concourse, rooftop plaza connecting the terminal building, platforms having all essential facilities, construction of a 6-meter wide arrival foot over bridge at both Barddhaman end and Howrah end, construction of 36-meter wide departure air concourse/roof plaza with departure foot over bridge connecting rear side building with parking facilities, modern Pay and Use toilets etc.

"Eastern Railway is committed to ensuring the safety of its passengers and road users by substituting manned level crossing gates with Underpasses. Railways have put in thrust on construction of more and more Underpasses at level crossings fully funded by the Railways and without any land acquisition bottlenecks," he said.

Deouskar said that Eastern Railway has recently completed construction of 11 Underpasses and is going to construct 22 Underpasses at a total cost of Rs. 123.52 crores.

"Among these Underpasses of Eastern Railway, 10 are in West Bengal of which, the Prime Minister is going to lay the Foundation Stone for 4 Underpasses and 6 nos. will be dedicated to the Nation. The total cost of these 10 Underpasses of Eastern Railway in West Bengal is Rs. 41.44 crores. All these 10 Underpasses of the Eastern Railway in West Bengal, 4 are in the Bandel – Katwa section, 4 are in New Farakka – Azimganj and 2 are in the Krishnanagar – Lalgola section," General Manager Eastern Railway further said.

He said that at present, there are 1017 level crossing gates in Eastern Railway of which 844 level crossings are in West Bengal.

"If the detention for road traffic jam and other causes may be average to 5 minutes, the cumulative effect of which will be considerably increase in journey time for both Railways and road traffic. By eliminating the level crossing gates with road overbridges and underpasses, Eastern Railway is committed to bring ease of movement for the rail passengers as well as road users," Deouskar said.

Prime Minister is going to lay the foundation stone for 1585 Underpasses over Indian Railways of which 31 underpasses are in Eastern Railway jurisdiction.

"All the underpasses are constructed with sufficient height of a minimum of 4 metres so that any cart loaded with a paddy bundle can easily pass through thereby facilitating ease of living for the villagers and they can pass with their produce from one side of the Railway track to the other side comfortably," he said.