Surat (Gujarat): The passengers of Surat railway station will soon experience seamless connectivity of transport as the station is being developed into a Multi-Model Transportation Hub (MMTH) which will integrate Railways, the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) city bus terminal and metro facilities at a same place.
Explaining the ongoing MMTH project, Chief Executive Officer of Surat Integrated Transportation Development Corporation Limited (SITCO) Tushar Mishra said the redevelopment work of Surat station is progressing in full swing. The work is being undertaken by SITCO which is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to execute the project.
"This project will be integrating numbers of multi-modes in a true sense like Railway, ISBT, Metro, BRTS, city bus and intermediate public transport making it a better transport hub for commuters," Mishra said.
Giving further details, he said, "The railway station will be divided into two parts depending on the direction of access, east-side and west-side. These buildings will be unified at the second level over platforms with a sustainably designed concourse with a seating capacity of 2000. Together it will have a handling capacity of more than five lakh passengers per day."
"We will have provision of 45 lifts, 70 escalators and stairs will be provided at new station buildings on west and east, and new bus terminal building. Not only this, the building will be made disabled-friendly," Mishra added.
Mentioning other facilities, he said buildings will have several other features like green building certification, 'divyang' friendly facilities, BMS system-solar panels on roof, rainwater harvesting, wastewater, stormwater reuse facility, solid waste management with proper segregation on-site and fire fighting arrangements including emergency power back-up.
Surat is one of the epicentre of trade and commerce with bustling economic activity of diamond and cloths. Once this MMTH starts, it will help to generate employment opportunities through better transport connectivity.
"The ISBT is being constructed at the south-east of the railway station, with handling capacity of 1.5 lakh passengers per day as compared to 66,000 presently," Mishra pointed out.
The MMTH will have six connection gates for access to metro sub-stations efficiently connected with all modes respectively. The metro station route will be connected with a high-speed rail corridor under construction near Niyol.
To ease the intermediate public transport traffic congestions, an elevated corridor will be provided having a running length of over four kms stretched over all directions of the city.
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