LUCKNOW: After Ayodhya, the Lucknow division of northern railways is now preparing Varanasi railway station to handle more than one lakh footfall per day.
Varanasi being one of the important railway stations of the religious tourism circuit, railways has undertaken yard remodeling of the station which is expected to be completed by March 2023—after which all platforms will have sufficient space to accommodate a large rake of express trains and platforms will be easily accessible through escalators and lifts.
According to the railway, currently there are nine platforms, but soon the station will have two more additional platforms. Further, the current platforms number 2 and 3 are being widened by 11 meters in order to introduce escalators and lifts. The NR has also focused on extending the loop lines in order to let freight trains operate without hindering the 117 express, mail and passengers train operations which arrive and depart daily from all corners of the country including the prestigious Vande Bharat express.
Suresh Kumar Sapra, the divisional railway manager of Lucknow division NR said: "Currently, the station average day footfall is 67,000. However, since Varanasi is an important religious site which falls right between Delhi-Kolkata route, we are strengthening the station passenger handling capacity for more than 1 lakh footfall per day."
"The station's redevelopment work includes beautification of the station's exterior structure, improvement of existing platforms, construction of two new platforms and two new foot-over-bridges and provision of a third entrance to the station. For the convenience of the passengers at the station, four ticket counters are being operated at the passenger shelter in each shift for unreserved tickets. Further, five ATVMs (automatic ticket vending machines) are also working round the clock," said DRM.
He added, "New electronic train indication board has been set up in the main hall of the station, along with 54 LED displays on the platforms to give live updates about the movement of trains."
