Bhubaneswar: The Amrit Bharat Station Scheme has recently been launched for development of Railway stations on Indian Railways. Presently, the scheme envisages to take-up 1275 stations for upgradation/modernisation over Indian Railway. Under this scheme, 18 stations of Sonpur Division and 20 stations of Samastipur Division have been identified.
The list of 1275 stations identified to be taken up under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, out of which 57 are in Odisha. Odisha stations taken up under Amrit Bharat scheme are:
Angul, Badampahar, Balangir, Balasore, Balugaon, Barbil, Bargarh Road, Baripada, Barpali, Belpahar, Betnoti, Bhadrak, Bhawanipatna, Bhubaneswar, Bimlagarh, Brahmapur, Brajrajnagar, Chatrapur, Cuttack, Damanjodi, Dhenkanal, Gunupur, Harishanker Road, Hirakud, Jajpur-Keonjhar road, Jaleswar, Jaroli, Jeypore, Jharsuguda, Jharsuguda Road, Kantabanji, Kendujhargarh, Kesinga, Khariar Road, Khurda road, Koraput, Lingaraj Temple Road, Mancheswar, Meramandali, Muniguda, New Bhubaneswar, Panposh, Paradeep, Parlakhemundi, Puri, Raghunathpur, Rairakhol, Rairangpur, Rajgangpur, Rayagada, Rourkela, Sakhi Gopal, Sambalpur, Sambalpur city, Talcher, Talcher Road, and Titlagarh Jn.
Amrit Bharat Station scheme envisages development of stations on a continuous basis with a long-term approach. It 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/escalators as necessary, cleanliness, free Wi-Fi, kiosks for local products through schemes like ‘One Station One Product’, better passenger information systems, Executive Lounges, nominated spaces for business meetings, landscaping etc. keeping in view the necessity at each station.
The scheme also envisages improvement of building, integrating the station with both sides of the city, multimodal integration, amenities for Divyangjans, sustainable and environment friendly solutions, provision of ballastless tracks, ‘Roof Plazas’ as per necessity, phasing and feasibility and creation of city centres at the station in the long term.
