Coimbatore: The Mettupalayam railway station is all set to get a facelift with added passenger amenities as part of efforts to make it an entry point to a tourist experience.
Besides getting a new building, the station will have a relaid approach road from the market and a passenger shelter on both its platforms. Also, drinking water facilities will be ramped up and the existing station building will be made more spacious.
The new station building will come up next to the ticket booking office. The building will have many offices, a couple of modernized waiting halls and operators room, said a senior railways official in the engineering department. “The estimated cost of the one-storey building is Rs 1.14 crore, of which Rs 60 lakh has been sanctioned during the recent meeting with members of parliament in Chennai,” said the official. “There is an abandoned railway quarters in the place where new structure will be built. We will demolish it,” he said.
The department has decided to use the new building to house all additional infrastructure requirements, so the existing station building remains untouched. “The original station building which dates back to the late nineteenth century is a heritage building,” said the official. “We will only provide passenger amenities and make the original building spacious,” he said.
The relaying of the approach road to the station is to improve the experience of tourists who board or deboard the Nilgiris Mountain Railway (NMR) at the station. “The approach road from the market, which is about 1km in length, had been damaged. About 250m of it was relaid three months back, and we plan to relay another 500m in the next month or so,” said another railways official.
“We also plan to add 12 drinking water pipes and six sinks, having two pipe each, across platform 1 and 1A. The toilets and waiting halls too will undergo repair works including replacement of broken floor and wall tiles, piping works among others,” he said. Besides, a shelter will be constructed across platform 1 and 1A, which can accommodate 24 coaches, so waiting passengers can be protected from sun’s ray and rain.
