PM Modi to lay foundation stone for redevelopment of 508 stations on Sunday

New Delhi, Aug 4 (IANS) Keeping in focus to enhance the experience of passengers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for redevelopment of 508 railway stations across the country on August 6 worth Rs 24,470 crore.

Sharing the details of the historic initiative, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said, “Improving passenger experience is a major focus of our government." 

The Railway Minister said, "Our Prime minister is personally monitoring the progress of Railways from time to time and he has given excellent inputs in the design of stations. He will be laying the foundation for the redevelopment of 508 stations across the country." 

Vaishnaw said that railways has kept a target of completing the redevelopment project in a time of two years. 

The railway ministry, meanwhile, said that the Prime Minister has often laid stress on provision of state-of-the-art public transport.

Noting that railways is the preferred mode of transport of people across the country, he has emphasised on the importance of providing world class amenities at railway stations.

“Guided by this vision, the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme was launched to redevelop 1309 stations across the country,” the ministry said.

As part of this scheme, the foundation stone for redevelopment of 508 stations is being laid by the Prime Minister via video conferencing.

These stations will be redeveloped at a cost of more than Rs 24,470 crore and the work is expected to be complete in two years.

The ministry said that master plans are being prepared for development of these stations as ‘City Centres’, with proper integration of both sides of the city.

“This integrated approach is driven by the holistic vision of overall urban development of the city, centred around the railway station,” the ministry said.

“These 508 stations are spread across 27 states and union territories, including 55 each in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, 49 in Bihar, 44 in Maharashtra, 37 in West Bengal, 34 in Madhya Pradesh, 32 in Assam, 25 in Odisha, 22 in Punjab, 21 each in Gujarat and Telangana, 20 in Jharkhand, 18 each in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, 15 in Haryana, 13 in Karnataka among others,” it said.

The redevelopment will provide modern passenger amenities along with ensuring well designed traffic circulation, inter-modal integration and well designed signage for guidance of passengers. The design of the station buildings will be inspired by local culture, heritage and architecture, the ministry said.