Be ready to shell out money to avail services at Chandigarh railway station

CHANDIGARH: Passengers and visitors will soon have to shell out money to avail services at the Chandigarh railway station, which will be handed over to the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Limited (IRSDC).

Sources said a meeting would be held between the officials of the Ambala division, the company whom the contract is given and the Chandigarh officials on Monday.


In the first phase, the division will hand over the services of parking, sanitation, snack bar, retiring room, waiting lodges, executive lodge and installation of food stall at the platforms to the company.

Sources said visitors would have to purchase a ticket of Rs 50 to access the platform after the station would be handed over to the firm. Currently, the platform ticket was for Rs 10.

Harideep, station director of the Chandigarh railway station, said they were yet to hand over the station to the firm, but it would be done in phases after instructions from the division.

He said officials of the company shared their plan with him which they were going to execute on the premises of the station.

“The company is also planning to install food stalls on platform number 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, where there is no such service at present. There is a plan to revamp the snack bar operational at the station to provide more options to the passengers,” said sources.

Since the parking lots will also be handed over to the company, it has been proposed that it should be on hourly basis. There are three waiting rooms at the station and so far, passengers could avail its services free of cost if they were carried their tickets. But now, passengers will have to pay charges to use the waiting rooms.

An official said the company would fix the charges, but they were yet to get any information on it.

Sources said a proposal was also submitted to open a cafeteria near the escalator from the Chandigarh side of the railway station.