KOCHI: The Ernakulam Town railway station, which is being redeveloped to offer modern infrastructure and airport-like facilities for the passengers, will be a “green building”, in compliance with Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA).
According to the railway spokesperson, Ernakulam Town railway station (also known as Ernakulam North Station) is one of the busiest railway junction stations in South India. “Southern Railway has taken up the redevelopment of this station to offer modern infrastructure and airport-like facilities for the passengers. The tender was awarded for the redevelopment work in August 2022 and now the preliminary work has begun and it is progressing at a steady pace,” said the spokesperson.
Ernakulam Town railway station handles more than 90 scheduled daily train services. “The station is categorised as an “NSG-3” station and registers an annual passenger footfall of 1.02 crore corresponding to an average daily footfall of 28,000,” he said. Ernakulam Town to Kayankulam railway line passes through the Kottayam district with major stations at Kottayam, Tiruvalla, Chengannur and Mavelikkara.
“The work of re-development of Ernakulam Town railway station was awarded as an EPC contract to M/s RANK Projects and Development Pvt Ltd, for an amount of Rs 150.28 crore on August 29, 2022. The completion period of the project is 36 months,”said the spokesperson.
“An air-concourse with skywalk connectivity, a new foot-overbridge and a multi-level car parking are also proposed to be constructed. In place of the existing building at the West Terminal, it has been proposed to build a three-storey structure, with a mezzanine floor, consisting of a total build-up area of 14,506 sq.m (excluding the concourse area). The ground floor is planned to facilitate hassle-free movement of passengers with a provision of dedicated arrival and departure corridors and will have world-class passenger amenities such as toilets, cloakroom, baby care, feeding room, help desk, commercial outlets and kiosk,” said the spokesperson.
The first floor will accommodate waiting lounges for passengers with facilities like restaurants, retail outlets and toilets. The main feature of the floor is the air concourse to help the passengers move to their respective platforms with the convenience of newly provided escalators and lifts.