Title - Amritsar railway station to get makeover soon

To have a retiring room, VIP lounge, waiting room, waiting hall,
parking area and circulating area
Amritsar:
The Northern Railways' Ferozepur Division is set to develop the Amritsar railway station by providing world-class facilities under its International Tourist Destination Programme.Naresh Chander Goel, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Ferozepur Division, which has jurisdiction in parts of Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir, said a private consultant had been hired to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) which is expected to be finished by the end of this month. He said state-of-the-art facilities would be provided at the local railway station at the cost of Rs 12 crore."The union ministries of tourism and railway will share the investment cost," he said.The railway station will have a retiring room, VIP lounge, waiting room, waiting hall, parking area, circulating area etc. The facilities will be added to the railway station as it witnesses the arrival and departure of as many as 129 trains daily and records a daily footfall of about 27,000 passengers.Goel said once the proposal was received it would be submitted to the headquarters for their approval. It is anticipated that the project implementation will begin by the end of this year.The railway authorities, facing criticism for not providing quality amenities, infrastructure and environment for the past sometime at the Amritsar railway station, have proposed a slew of development projects here.They recently set momentum for setting up a food plaza at the railway station and the tender process is about to start for the same after the only refreshment room at the railway station has remained closed many a times for non-payment of dues. The Indian Railways Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) was in the process of floating tenders to set up a food plaza and its site plan had been approved.The order for this has been placed after giving the final approval for installing escalator at the Amritsar railway station. The escalator will be installed near the ticket