11 railway stations of UP to get makeover akin to airports

Eleven railway stations in Uttar Pradesh, including Allahabad, are among the 90 stations selected countrywide that would be developed on the lines of airports, said chief public relations officer, NCR GK Bansal.

Of these 11, three comes under jurisdiction of North Central Railway (NCR) including Allahabad junction, Mathura and Jhansi. The other eight are Lucknow junction, Gomti Nagar, Varanasi Junction, Varanasi City, Ayodhya, Mughalsarai, Gorakhpur and Izzat Nagar.

The railways will equip these stations with world class facilities as available in most airports, union railway minister Piyush Goyal had recently said via a tweet.

“The railways has shortlisted these stations to be developed like airports after observing their potential and significance for passengers. These stations will be equipped with shopping malls, advance waiting lounges, eateries, cab facilities, single-window helping booth, wi-fi etc with greenery all around,” Bansal said.

The architecture of some stations/buildings could be changed according to the archeological or religious importance of the city, he said.

Bansal said Allahabad junction that has 10 platforms will be equipped with down escalators for the convenience of passengers. Presently, it has four up escalators. Of these, three are at Civil Lines side and one at city side.