Chandigarh railway station revamp expected to be completed by May 2025
The minister visited the spots where the work is ongoing and asked the officials concerned to finish the work in a time bound manner; around 80% of the construction is complete, however, air concourse work is still under progress
After missing the deadline of May 2024, the redevelopment work of Chandigarh railway station as a world-class railway station is set to be completed by next year. The completed project is likely to be opened in May 2025.
On Tuesday, minister of state for railways Ravneet Singh Bittu along with railway officials visited Chandigarh railway station and inspected the ongoing project. He was accompanied by BJP leader Sanjay Tandon.
The minister visited the spots where the work is ongoing and asked the officials concerned to finish the work in a time bound manner. Around 80% of the construction is complete, however, air concourse work is still under progress.
Ravneet Bittu said that few components such as one foot-over bridge (FOB), station buildings on both sides and parking would be ready for public by February 2025. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to inaugurate the project.
With a total cost of ₹462 crore, the new railways station once fully completed will have separate areas for arrivals and departures.
G+3 station buildings of (60 m x 42 m) on both Chandigarh and Panchkula side with 30 lifts, 10 escalators and two foot-over bridges of 12 metres is coming up at the station.
Parking area of total 25,000 sqm. is also being developed to accommodate a maximum number of two and four wheelers, two dormitories with capacity of 20 beds, and 10 air-conditioned retiring rooms with TVs, heater, etc., shall also be provided for the passengers.
Space for a food plaza, 72m X 80m air concourse and an air-conditioned restaurant will also be made available for the passengers.
The project is under the railway land development authority (RLDA), which is a statutory authority under the ministry of railways responsible for developing railway land.
The redevelopment tender for the station was awarded to M/s Ahluwalia Contracts (Pvt) Ltd in December 2022. The upgrade work commenced in January 2023. Earlier, the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation was tasked with upgradation of the railway station, which was to be finished by 2021. After a delay due to the pandemic, the railway board handed over the work to RLDA in April 2022.
The project, which authorities call a lighthouse project, will be a beacon for other stations across the Indian railway network, which will be redeveloped along the same lines.
Installation of Kavach
Speaking about the installation of Kavach in northern railways, Ravneet Singh said that there is 1,790km work sanctioned for installation of KAVACH in northern railways while in Punjab work for Kavach is sanctioned on 121km; 33km on Chandigarh-Dhulkot line and 88km on Ferozepur-Bathinda line.
Ravneet Singh also said that during the festival season of Durga Puja, Chat puja and Diwali the Indian railways will operate 6,000 specials trains across the country while in northern railways there would be 161 trains which would have 2,882 trips originating and terminating in the northern railways.