The Bhubaneswar new railway station is set to be made operational before Lord Jagannath's Rath Yatra festival beginning July 14, a senior official said today.
"Bhubaneswar new station will be made functional before rath yatra, as per a decision of the Railway Ministry and the exact date will be finalised soon," Chief Public Relations Officer of East Coast Railway (ECoR), J P Mishra told PTI here.
Initially, around three passenger trains will have stoppage at the newly constructed railway station. Gradually train services would be enhanced and stoppages would be provided for express and super fast trains too, he said.
Stating that over Rs 28 crore has so far been spent for construction of the new station project, Mishra said adding that around Rs two crore more would be required for completing certain finishing works.
The new station, which is around 14 km from the existing main Bhubaneswar station near, is situated between Mancheswar and Barang railway stations.
The new station was built in view of heavy traffic in the main station here. Over 140 trains daily pass through the existing main station which has only six platforms, said a senior railway official.
The trains which will be given stoppage at Bhubaneswar New railways station now are 58001/58002 Puri-Howrah-Puri Passenger, 58131/58132 Rourkela-Puri-Rourkela Passenger and 68534/68533 Cuttack-Brahmapur-Cuttack MEMU, he said.
The station has nine rail lines and seven platforms. Ticket counters, water kiosks, benches and installation of electrical equipment have been completed. Station building, staff quarters and approach road are also ready, he said.
Several southbound trains are now likely to originate from the new station, which would greatly benefit passengers from Barang, Nandankanan, Raghunathpur, Kalarahanga, Patia and nearby areas, the official said.
Apart from the new Bhubaneswar station, ECoR has decided to launch several other projects including a MEMU Shed at Khurda Road, a new ticket counter at Bagala Dharmasala in Jajpur district, a new Foot Over Bridge (FOB) at Berhampur.
Some other railway projects including a new station building at Bhadrak are likely to be be commissioned later this month, he said.
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