RailEnquiry

General Manager of East Coast Railway Indra Ghosh on Saturday unveiled a comprehensive master plan for world-class facilities at the Bhubaneswar and Puri railway stations at an estimated cost of Rs279 crore.

An additional Rs137 crore is also planned to be spent to create a coaching complex at Malatipatpur near Puri.

In the presence of all the departmental heads of the ECoR and other senior functionaries, Ghosh made a power-point presentation which gave a glimpse into the way the two existing railway stations would be transformed into well-designed passenger terminals with all modern amenities, higher number of platforms and better access for both passengers and visitors.

The plans also include doubling of lines between Khurda Road, Cuttack and Puri.

In response to a question, Ghosh assured that facilities’ up-gradation and line-doubling activities would be over in time to handle the anticipated surge in passenger traffic for the Nabakalebar festival of Lord Jagannath at Puri.

A new Bhubaneswar railway station between Mancheswar and Barang is also planned as a satellite passenger terminal to take care of the increasing passenger load in the next few years. The existing Bhubaneswar station is due for a major revamping with multilevel car parking, smoother flow of traffic both inside and outside the station, additional platforms and much better passenger amenities.

In response to a question Ghosh said that a five-year plan has been prepared to address the issue of the unmanned level-crossings in the ECoR jurisdiction. The meet was coordinated by ECoR Chief Public Relations Officer RN Mahapatra.