BHUBANESWAR: The much-awaited redevelopment of Bhubaneswar railway station to a world-class multimodal hub may soon take shape as the Indian Railways has planned its foundation laying ceremony on Thursday.
Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi will lay the foundation for the project, which is expected to be completed in the next two years. The railways would invest Rs 308 crore for the creation of modern infrastructural facilities and amenities for railway passengers.
As part of the redevelopment work, the station will have an iconic building of global standards. The passenger area will be developed like airport terminals and the station will have separate entry and exit, baggage security, check-in area, information centre, art gallery and food plaza among other modern facilities.
Initially planned in 2016, the project was to be taken up as a joint venture by Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) and East Coast Railway (ECoR) at a cost of Rs 910 crore. But, ECoR had to exit from the MoU signed with the state government in 2019 owing to an inordinate delay in giving shape to the project.
An ECoR official said the redevelopment of the Bhubaneswar railway station is being regularly monitored by the railway ministry as it is a project of priority for the railways. Vaishnaw had earlier stressed early execution and completion of the project.
Apart from this, the Railway minister will flag off the Puri-Jaleswar-Puri passenger train while Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will inaugurate the 14-km Angul-Balaram new railway line and flag off Sambalpur and Shalimar Express at Angul station in the presence of the three Union ministers.
The new rail line will be beneficial for the transportation of freight, especially coal to the different industries and powerhouses of the country and will add additional revenue. Both the new trains will run as special trains on an inaugural day.
However, Sambalpur-Shalimar-Sambalpur tri-weekly Express via Talcher-Dhenkanal and Bhadrak will leave Sambalpur at 7.10 pm every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday from January 3 and will leave from Shalimar at 9.25 pm every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from January 4.
Similarly, the Puri-Jaleswar-Puri passenger train will leave Puri at 1.15 pm towards Jaleswar on December 31 and will leave Jaleswar at 4.50 am towards Puri from January 1.