Odisha: Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw Lays Foundation For Bhubaneswar Railway Station Redevelopment

On Thursday (29 December), Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw laid the foundation for the redevelopment of East Coast Railway's (ECoR's) Bhubaneswar Railway Station.

Dharmendra Pradhan, the Union Minister for Education, and Prahlad Joshi, the Minister for Coal and Mines, both attended the ceremony. 

The project would be finished in the following two years. 

The railways plans to invest Rs 308 crore in new infrastructure and amenities for train passengers.

According to an ECoR official, the Railway Ministry routinely monitors the renovation of the Bhubaneswar Railway Station. 

This is going to be one of the very important projects, as Vaishnaw stressed on early compilation and execution of work, reports Financial Express. 

The redeveloped station will have an iconic building of global standards as part of the redevelopment work.

The station's passenger area will be designed similar to airport terminals, with distinct entrances and exits, baggage security, a check-in area, an information centre, an art gallery, and a food court, among other contemporary amenities.

When the project was first conceived in 2016, Bhubaneswar Development Authority and ECoR intended to undertake it as a joint venture at a cost of Rs 910 crore.

However, due to an excessive delay in the project's development, ECoR was forced to withdraw from the MoU it had signed with the state government in 2019.