Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stones for re-development of around 500 stations across the country including Anand Vihar, Nizamuddin, Prayagraj and Jaipur, in a single day next week.
These stations will be re-developed under the ‘Amrit Bharat Station Scheme‘, entailing an investment of nearly Rs 20,000 crore.
Officials said considering the scale of the projects and their spread across the country, the Railway Ministry will hold simultaneous events at all the 500 locations.
They added that one of the major focuses will be on holding different competitions among school students. The Railways estimated the students’ participation to cross two lakh on that day.
The Amrit Bharat station scheme involves preparation of master plans and their implementation in phases to improve the amenities at the stations like improvement of station access, circulating areas, waiting halls, toilets, lift and escalators besides cleanliness, free Wi-Fi, kiosks for local products under the ‘one station, one product‘ scheme.
The massive station re-development programme also envisages improvement of building, integrating the station with both sides of the city, multi-modal integration and environment friendly solutions.
So far, 1,309 railway stations have been identified under this scheme including 83 in Rajasthan, 87 in Gujarat, 80 in Madhya Pradesh and 34 in Haryana.
According to the Railways, out of 1,309 stations, foundation stones would be laid for re-development of 500 stations.
The ‘Amrit Bharat station scheme’ broadly envisages improvement in amenities for passengers.
The improvement of station approaches, circulating area, parking areas and also improvement of station facade, illumination, waiting halls, toilets, provision of high level platforms and increase in platform cover.
Provision of lift/escalators, facilities for Divyangjan, free Wi-Fi, executive lounges, meeting places, booths for ‘one station, one product’, roof plazas with station buildings as per feasibility are expected to be part of the redevelopment plan.