Each rail division gets Rs 20 cr to make one 'model station' under it by March

Each division of the Indian Railways has been given a corpus of Rs 20 crore to develop one station under it as a model station by March this year, sources told PTI Tuesday.

The divisional railway managers of 68 railway zones have been instructed to identify and develop a station of their choice in areas of passenger amenities and infrastructure like provision and maintenance of lifts, foot-over-bridge, seats, platforms, availability of drinking water.

"All 68 divisions have been asked to develop the railway station of their choice in the next two months. These stations will then be a model to develop other stations in the division. Each will be developed at a cost of Rs 20 crore," the source said.

The idea, the source said, is to develop railways stations across the network in phases. With the DRM empowered to not only choose the railway station but also decide on the works to be completed, the onus is on the division to complete the works within the given timeline.

The divisions have been asked to focus on developing the infrastructure of stations based on footfall and revenue.

Some of the stations which are likely to undergo a facelift in the coming months include Lonavala, Varanasi city, Pune, Mathura, Patna, Howrah, Allahabad, Udaipur, Bikaner, Warangal, Delhi Main, Ambala, Raipur, Ahmedabad and Mysore.

Meanwhile, the newly appointed Chairman Railway Board Vinod Kumar Yadav held a meeting with the officials of all 68 divisions on Sunday and discussed safety, security, revenue and infrastructure issues.

He spoke to officials working in the field and not only took direct feedback from them on various issues but also listened to their problems.

"He has asked officials to implement the priority projects of the railways in a time-bound manner," the source said.