Jamshedpur : Following the budget announcement of making railway stations disabled friendly steps are being taken by Chakradharpur railway division authorities to ensure that orders are in place at Tatanagar railway station. In this direction, the authorities have fixed March-end target for making operational the ambitious escalator project.
Railway sources revealed that around Rs 1.5 crore would be spent for installation work of escalators and lifts. Tenders have been already finalised for procuring the escalators and lifts.
Satyam Prakash, spokesperson-cum-senior divisional commercial manager of Chakradharpur division said that efforts are being taken to ensure better amenities at Tatanagar. In this direction, the ambitious project one of the escalators would become operational by March end. ” We are taking every step to make operational one escalator at Tatanagar by the end of the current fiscal year. The second escalator and two lifts ( or elevators) would be commissioned later this year,” he said.
The escalator and the lift project, work of which began last year had already missed one deadline of December, 2016. ” Following the announcements in the Budget the work on the twin projects has gained momentum. Both the projects would get fully completed by the end of this year, ” said the senior railway official of Chakradharpur adding that the projects were aimed at benefiting differently abled, senior citizens and other rail users.
Sources in railway’s engineering division, which is executing the twin projects by assigning the work to a private party said that as per the final blueprint a lift and an escalator would come up on platform 1 and 3, where maximum number of mail, express and superfast trains halt.
“The construction work of lifts will take some time due to technical reasons. The existing foot overbridge is 3.5 metres wide. We need to create more space once the lift becomes operational,” said an official of railway’s engineering wing.
The official went on to say that work for the foot overbridge on the Chakradharpur end of the railway station would also commence soon. ” The old abandoned bridge would be converted into a foot overbridge. This will also benefit passengers entering the railway station from the Burmamines-end, the second entry to the railway station,” he said.
Located on the Howrah-Mumbai main route Tatanagar is an important station. Several important trains travel via Tatanagar, including the high-profile Rajdhani Express and Duronto Express. The station sees a daily traffic of 90 mail, express and passenger trains, besides a footfall of more than 60,000 passengers.