Jamshedpur, July 26: As part of the Central government’s ambitious “Amrit Bharat Station Scheme” initiative, the South Eastern Railway (SER) zone is poised to witness significant infrastructural development. Under this initiative, 22 major railway stations within the SER zone, including Adra, Bagnan, Balasore, Bishnupur, Bokaro Steel City, Chakradharpur, Contai Road, Garbeta, Hatia, Jhargram, Jharsuguda, Kharagpur, Kolaghat, Mecheda, Midnapore, Ranchi, Rourkela, Santragachi Jn., Tamluk, Tatanagar, Ulubaria and Purulia are set to undergo substantial enhancements.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said that the scheme has recently been launched for the development of Railway stations in the country.
Nationwide, a total of 1309 railway stations have been identified for comprehensive development, out of which 22 key stations are designated within the SER zone.
Recently, the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme has been launched for development of Railway stations on Indian Railways.
This scheme envisages development of stations on a continuous basis with a long-term approach.
It involves 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. The scheme also envisages improvement of building, integrating the station with both sides of the city, multimodal integration, amenities for Divyangjans, sustainable and environment friendly solutions, provision of ballast less tracks, ‘Roof Plazas’ as per necessity, phasing and feasibility and creation of city centres at the station in the long term.
Model Station Scheme was in vogue from 1999 to 2008. Under this scheme 594 stations were selected for upgradation on Indian Railways. Out of these 34 stations in Madhya Pradesh were selected for upgradation and all the identified stations have been developed under this scheme. A list of zone-wise stations developed under the Model Station scheme is appended.
So far 1309 Railway Stations have been identified under this scheme including 80 no. of stations in the state of Madhya Pradesh.
