Surat (Gujarat): Gujarat's Udhna Railway Station is being revamped to provide state-of-the-facilities to the commuters increasing its capacity to cater to over 75,000 passenger footfall from current 37,000 after the redevelopment work is completed.
"Once the redevelopment project gets completed, the station will have different types of uses for the passengers such as ticketing, boarding trains, alighting of trains and waiting area," said Sandeep Khandelwal, Deputy Chief Engineer (C)/ST Western Railway.
Highlighting the key features of the station, Khandelwal said the redeveloped railway station will be able to cater to 75290 people, 31622 on West side and 43668 on East side, and more trains will be made operational from the station. At present existing West side building is on 838.88 sqm area but proposed building at West side will be made on 1776.99 sqm and East side will be 1883.7 sqm area, he said.
Additionally, the station will have a parking for 50 cars, 165 two-wheelers and 50 auto rickshaws. Providing details regarding the redevelopment of Udhna Station, Khandelwal said once the revamp work is completed, some of the key features of the station will include separate segregated arrival and departure passenger plazas, congestion free and conflict-free entry and exits in station premises simultaneously from east and west side.
Apart from these, adequate concourse and waiting spaces will be provided to avoid overcrowding on platforms. The upgraded main station at east will have one clock tower at circulating area which will carry the iconic symbol of Udhna Station and the theme of the west side façade will be similar to that of surroundings of this station, he said.
The project will have green building features with facilities for reduction in energy consumption during construction as well as operations and maintenance, which is designed with passive energy saving features, which promotes usage of local materials and reuses the existing materials to the extent possible. This station will have modern security checking system, baggage scanning and frisking of passengers.
The road connectivity with the city for quick and easy access to the railway station and adequate parking within the station premises will also be available. Several other facilities for passengers including ticketing, retail, kiosks, ATMs, help desk, information booths, cloak rooms, baby changing rooms, VIP lounges and tourist information will be developed in east and west sides.
