One new platform and two new railway tracks would be constructed at the Dehradun railway station to facilitate arrival of 18-coach trains. Notably, Dehradun is presently accessible to trains with just 13 coaches. Announcing this, the additional general manager, Northern Railway, Manju Gupta, said on Wednesday following inspection of the station that she has discussed extension of platforms and new railway track laying projects with the senior railway officers and directed them to improve sanitation and other passenger facilities. “The platform numbers of the station would be changed accordingly. As things stand now, the platform number-3 might be changed as platform number 1,” Gupta said.
She further assured that the movement of the trains would not be affected in the least during the execution of the new projects. “Besides, we are focused on improving the railway infrastructure well before the seasonal char dham yatra and the tourist season begins,” she added.
Meanwhile, the AGM’s visit kept the railway officers and RPF personnel on their toes. The station saw a massive cleanliness drive launched prior to the inspection. The staffers were on alert lest something looked amiss. Things looked perfect everywhere in the station, a rare spectacle that made the passengers to wonder why. The escalator- meant take the passengers from one of the platforms to outside the station, which remained non-functional till March 6- resumed service a few hours before the AGM’s visit.
During the inspection, AGM directed the railway officers to improve sanitation as a part of ongoing ''Swachh Rail-Swachh Bharat'' drive being launched at platforms, along the railway tracks and places around the stations. She inspected the level of cleanliness and passenger amenities available at the station premises with particular focus on drinking water, fans, lights, water coolers and wheelchairs. She also visited places where the discarded wooden sleepers were dumped and directed the officials to dispose them at the earliest. “We are especially concerned about the security of the pilgrims and the tourists coming to the state. CCTV cameras and metal detectors would be installed to make things fool- proof,” she added.