Unable to develop stations of international standards proposed in Bhubaneswar and Puri due to paucity of fund and land, East Coast Railway (ECoR) has now unveiled Rs 279-crore revamp plan for upgrading these two stations to offer improved amenities to passengers.
The remodelling exercise is expected to be completed within three years keeping in view the auspicious Naba Kalebara festival of Lord Jagannath at Puri in 2015.
“Land which is required for the world class station is not available. Railway Board has frozen work on all such stations. We are now going to create improved facilities for users of Bhubaneswar and Puri stations,” Indra Ghosh, general manager, ECoR said here at a news conference.
The remodelling of the existing railway station in Bhubaneswar will see addition of many new components like multi level parking to be taken up on the public private partnership (PPP) mode at a cost of Rs 65 crore and a flyover on Master Canteen circle to be built by the state government at a cost of Rs 85 crore. The multi-layered parking can accommodate up to 900 cars besides offering ample space for two-wheelers and bicycles.
On its part, ECoR will invest Rs 30 crore on a new station building and two additional platforms at an investment of Rs 20 crore.
Following the revamp exercise, the Bhubaneswar station will have a 10-metre wide basement platform that will house all service offices of the Railways including station masters, ticket collectors, carriage examiners and electrical supervisors.
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Besides, there will be four upper class waiting halls, two executive lounges, adequate number of multi-cuisine restaurants, book shops and medicine shops.
A comprehensive master plan has also been prepared for upgrading the existing station at Puri that will be accompanied by addition of four new platforms. A permanent multi-storeyed yatra complex has been proposed to be developed on a cost sharing basis between Railways, Odisha Tourism Development Corporation (OTDC) and Union ministry of tourism. The complex is estimated to cost Rs 34 crore.
Four additional platforms have been planned for the Puri station at an investment of Rs 32 crore while creating new parking facilities for cars, rickshaws, auto-rickshaws and two-wheelers will cost another Rs 8 crore. The Puri railway station will also be equipped with amenities similar to the Bhubaneswar station like food court, food stalls, escalators, medicine shops and book shops.
Apart from revamping of the stations in Bhubaneswar and Puri, ECoR has also firmed up plans to build satellite passenger terminals around these cities to decongest passenger traffic at these stations. The Bhubaneswar railway station is currently handling passenger traffic of 0.7 million and it is growing at the rate of 20 per cent every year.
ECoR has conceived ‘New Bhubaneswar’ as a satellite passenger terminal to be established between Mancheswar, the site of its coaching complex in Bhubaneswar and Barang on the outskirts of the city. A similar passenger terminal has also been planned at Maltipatpur near Puri.
“Work on the new Bhubaneswar terminal along with line expansion between Cuttack and Barang will be executed by Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL). Cost estimates cannot be given,” Ghosh said.
The zonal railway also has plans to develop a coaching complex at Maltipatpur in the future at a cost of Rs 137 crore.
In addition, ECoR has plans a new coaching complex between the existing facility at Mancheswar and new Bhubaneswar. In the final phase, the coaching complex will have facilities like double entry from both Mancheswar and new Bhubaneswar, eight maintenance pit lines and nine stabling lines.
A quadruple line is also planned between Barang and Khurda Road junction.