Ghaziabad railway station on track for revamp

NEW DELHI: Northern Railway has started work for the redevelopment of Ghaziabad railway station, for which Rs 337 crore has been sanctioned, a senior railway official has said.He said the redevelopment includes a new two-floor station building as well as a basement. The building would be at the city side as well as the rear side Vijay Nagar. An eight-metre-wide foot overbridge would be built to ensure better connectivity, another official said. "Construction has started for the station buildings. We will build a quarter and a training hostel. Along with that, the designs for the foot overbridge and concourse are being made," he said.The railway has set August 2025 as the deadline to complete the project, he said. According to the redevelopment plan, the station will get escalators, lifts and staircases, he said.The official said that a concourse, 72-metre-wide would be built. Also, a roof which would cover the entire platform.There are also provisions for rainwater harvesting, sewage treatment plants, water storage structures and underground tanks.Spread across 1.5 lakh sqm, the Ghaziabad station sees the movement of 200 trains daily and is an important station on the Delhi-Howrah line with a footfall of around 50,000 people every day.The redevelopment plan is part of the Indian Railways Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, aimed at equipping its 1,308 stations with contemporary amenities to cater to the diverse needs of the wide array of passengers.Initially, 508 stations are being reconstructed, among which the redevelopment of 71 stations has been taken up by Northern Railway.The key objective of this scheme is transforming the stations into vibrant transit centres that offer a safe, fast, inclusive, efficient and sustainable way of travelling, an official said.Fourteen stations in the Delhi division, including Delhi Cantonment, Ghaziabad and Faridabad, will be redeveloped under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme.The stations that have been selected under the scheme include Rohtak, Sonipat, Sabzi Mandi, Mansa, Narela, Modinagar, Jind, Narwana, Bahadurgarh, Pataudi Road and Shamli, along with Delhi Cantonment, Ghaziabad and Faridabad.The ambitious plans span a wide range of activities such as the facelift of the railway stations, laying new lines, 100% electrification and enhanced safety of assets and passengers.Facilities planned under the scheme also include smooth access to railway stations by removing unwanted structures, improving lighting, better circulating area, upgraded parking space, and infrastructure that supports people with disability.The standard elements of station design include development of the stations as city centres, integration of both sides of the city, redevelopment of station buildings and well-designed modern passenger amenities.Other features would be functional traffic circulation and inter-modal integration, uniform and helpful signage for guidance of passengers, landscaping local art and culture.