BHUBANESWAR: The Indian Railways is undertaking modernisation of 57 railway stations in Odisha under the Amrit Bharat station scheme. The upgradation and redevelopment of railway stations and amenities will not only solve the congestion problem, but also provide open spaces to people and beautify the station area.The stations taken up for upgradation and beautification included three major stations - Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri, 13 stations in KBK districts and 16 stations in aspirational districts.
Railways sources said Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri stations will be developed as world-class multimodal hubs at an investment of Rs 308 crore, Rs 303 crore and Rs 162 crore respectively. While redevelopment work is in progress in Bhubaneswar and Puri stations, bidding is under process for Cuttack station. Techno-economic feasibility studies have begun in 10 stations, including Bhubaneswar New, Rayagada, Sambalpur, Bhadrak, Berhampur, Jajpur-Keonjhar Road, Khurda Road, Balasore, Jharsuguda and Rourkela.
After the modernisation of Bhubaneswar station as part of the smart city project was scrapped, the Indian Railways is implementing the project on its own. As part of the project, an 11-storey building will come up on the Master Canteen side while a six-storey and a four-storey building will be constructed on the old station side.
The revamped railway station will have wide entrances and exits, special parking arrangements, a lounge for travellers, 34 lifts, 20 escalators, 21 retiring rooms, a 150-bed dormitory, food courts and ATM kiosks besides airport standard waiting areas.
Three more stations in the capital city - Bhubaneswar New, Lingaraj Temple Road and Mancheswar are also being redeveloped. The Lingaraj Temple Road station will have facilities for Puri bound travellers, who will land at the airport, so that they can have a hassle free journey to Srikshetra.
A railway official said of the 1,275 railway stations identified in the country including border areas for development under Amrit Bharat Station scheme, 57 stations are from Odisha, which is among the top-10 states with maximum number stations selected for upgradation.
“The development work of Bhubaneswar, Puri and Cuttack will be completed in the next two years. Apart from the three major stations, development work of 27 other stations has already started. Of around Rs 200 crore allocated for these stations in last two years, around Rs 128 crore has been spent till December 2022,” he said.