The Tatanagar railway station will soon get an executive lounge and other modern facilities. The Chakradharpur railway division has come up with a blueprint of the project which would cost over Rs2 crore. As per the plans the lounge and the dormitories would come up on the first floor of the railway station.
“The air-conditioned executive lounge will have facilities of lED television, modern seats, wi-fi, change room, variety of refreshments, complimentary newspapers and toilets,” said Malay Mallik, assistant station superintendent of Tatanagar railway station.
The senior railway official informed that a few air-conditioned dormitories would also be attached with the lounge. “ It is our ambitious project and we are looking forward to make it success. Only bonafied passengers can avail the facility of the lounge and the dormitories paying a tariff, which will be finalised after the construction work gets over,” he said.
Regarding capacity he said the lounge will be able to accommodate over 30 passengers at a time. “ The commercial section of the Chakradharpur division would work out the appropriate tariff depending on the facilities provided,” he said.
Notably, the Tatanagar railway station already has an air-conditioned lounge but it can accomodate only 15-20 passengers. The air-conditioned lounge which is running for the last two years does not have much facility. Passengers using the lounge are required to pay a tariff of Rs17 per hour.
located on the Howrah-Mumbai main route Tatanagar is an important station. Several important trains travel via Tatanagar, including the high-profile Rajdhani Express and Duronto Express. The station sees a daily traffic of 90 mail, express and passenger trains, besides a footfall of more than 60,000 passengers.
According to plans, platform No. 1 will be equipped with an escalator ( or moving stairways ) , a lift and a ramp. Platform Nos. 2 and 3 will have ramps while the rest two platforms -- 4 and 5 will have the facility of a lift and a staircase.
“The moving stairways will connect the platform No 1 with the abandoned overbridge, which will be revamped into a railway footbridge. It will also help us in making operational the much-awaited second entry to the station from the Burmamines-end,” explained OP Sharma, the station manager. He said that it will be the second footbridge at the station. The other footbridge already exists towards the Howrah-end of the railway station.
Tatanagar, the second busiest station of South Eastern Railway, will be the second to boast the escalator facility. Howrah station in Bengal, the busiest on the South Eastern Railway network, has escalators connecting its old and new complexes. The facility was introduced in 2011.