Central Railway’s Chandrapur and Ballarshah stations of Nagpur Division have jointly bagged the first prize for the most beautiful railway stations on Indian Railways.
The Chandrapur and Ballarshah stations were adjudged first among the 62 entries from 11 Zones on Indian Railways, reviewed by a Committee consisting of Executive Directors of Station Development, Passenger Marketing, Tourism and other departments. The Award carries a cash prize of Rs.10 lakh.
The Chandrapur and Ballarshah stations have been beautified by paintings and sculptures of the Tadoba jungle. “Passengers can now have a feel of the rich wildlife beauty of the Tadoba Forest in the stations itself,” a CR’s chief spokesperson Sunil Udasi said.
“This is yet another achievement by Central Railway. The beautification of Chandrapur and Ballarshah stations will bring smile and relief to the passengers from the tiresome long distance journey. One is tempted to go closer, observe and take a selfie. Besides this will help to boost tourism and generate employment in the region,” Udasi said. DK Sharma, General Manager, Central Railway congratulated the Divisional Railway Manager, Nagpur Division and his team for contributing to Chandrapur and Ballarshah stations being adjudged as the most beautiful railway stations on Indian Railways.
The beautification project, undertaken by Central Railway, has been implemented with the help of District Collector of Chandrapur, Ballarshah, Forest Department and students of Govt. Fine Art College, Nagpur.
“Our concept was to work on innovative ideas from all corners in various mediums depicting local culture and beauty. The hard work by these artistes is clearly visible in their creations and this will definitely set an example for other stations to follow suit.
The efforts to beautify the two stations by bringing out the beauty of Tadoba Forest and Wildlife through wall paintings and sculptures have become hugely successful,” Sharma said.
Some of the highlights of the beautification work undertaken at the two railway stations are: fibre casting has been used in relief work and round sculptures which is both effective and longer lasting; for those places which were not reachable by the artiste, drawings were made and printed on Vinyl sheets; installations were done in metal, fibre, iron fabricated structures, Siporex stone (used to enhance the beauty) etc to create the suitable forest atmosphere; mosaic tiles were used to bring a colourful look.
Mosaic has been specially used since it can resistthe summer heat and heavy rains, besides its colours don’t fade, while in those places where work had to be done on different layers, wood has been used; oil and acrylic have been used for wall paintings. Cartoons have been added as a special attraction for children.