Safdarjung station to have smoking, non-smoking lounges: Rlys

Safdarjung station is going to be developed as a tourist-friendly station with enhanced passenger amenities, including smoking and non-smoking lounge, a first of its kind in Northern zone.
There will be a state-of-the-art entrance lobby and a VIP lounge, retiring rooms, bio-toilets among other added facilities to come up at the station, said a senior Northern Railway official.
"The station is to be developed in association with Tourism Ministry at an estimated cost of Rs 6.20 cr and according to the plan many new features will be provided to facilitate tourists," he said today.
While many trains start from the station, a few more tourist services are going to be launched from here, he said adding the plan envisages new terminal for tourists, direct access to footbridge for public and segregation of traffic system for public, tourist and staff.

There will be landscaping of the station to give it a new look while CCTV, escalators, lifts will be provided for facilitating passengers, he said.
An adequate parking lot will also be created along with strengthening of the security arrangement to ensure safety and security of passengers.

Besides Safdarjung, Kurukshetra station is also to be developed in coordination with the Tourism Ministry.
The Delhi Division is also pursuing the re-development of Anand Vihar and Bijwasan stations through PPP mode.
Free google WiFi services have already been provided at New Delhi, Nizamuddin, Anand Vihar, Old Delhi and Ghaziabad stations as added passenger amenities, the official said.