Varanasi railway station set for a makeover

Indian Railways has made plans to revamp the railway station of Varanasi, the constituency of Prime Minster Narendra Modi, to meet international standards.

Varanasi, which is situated on the banks of the Ganges, is one of the two constituencies from where Modi fielded his candidacy and won during the general elections last month.

The city is an important centre of the Indian Railways (IR). Traffic from all over the country goes through this station which makes it a very important one.

A lot of work is proposed for this station and still more sanctioned; rail authorities plan on making it fit to meet international standards. And for this purpose, officials from the IR were present on the station for an inspection on Wednesday.

"We will work towards making an integrated plan for Varanasi so as to make rail travel much smoother in the coming years. The aim is to make it comfortable for the rail users ultimately," said General Manager (GM) of Northern Central Railways (NCR) Pradeep Kumar.

This new plan is perhaps a step towards the betterment of the city, a cause which Modi had promised before he won the elections.

Though the station has seen a lot of changes over the years, the IR has more in store. The main issue to deal with is smooth movement in the rail yards which often becomes a bottle neck owing to the large number of trains coming through the station, said Kumar. A plan for 25 crore rupees has been sanctioned for yard remodeling while another plan of 250 crore rupees is already in place.

Apart from that there are issues of cleanliness, lighting at the platforms and minor repairs.

But since Varanasi is an important holy city and is being seen as a keen tourist destination, there is a lot more in store for this station.

"There is a plan from the Ministry of Tourism for select important stations of India the expenses for which will be meted out by the Ministry and the railways. Amenities for passengers will be improved on those stations. Varanasi is included on the list," said Kumar

Varanasi also has satellite stations like Kashi. The integrated plan would work in a way that traffic from the main Varanasi station would be diverted there.