Sealdah Div awaits Traffic dept’s inputs on circulating area dev plan of stn

On the development of the circulating area of the Sealdah Railway Station, the Eastern Railway’s (ER) Sealdah Division has submitted a report to the Traffic department seeking their inputs. Accordingly, modifications will be made to the plan.

They had conducted a preliminary discussion with the department and submitted a plan on the circulating arrangement. “We cannot and should not do it unilaterally because whatever we do can choke the main roads. So we are in consultation and have presented a plan to them. We are awaiting their remarks,” the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) of Sealdah Deepak Nigam said.

“Circulating area is taking time because we have to discuss with all stakeholders,” DRM said. According to an official, Metro Railway is also involved and discussion needs to be made with them as well.

Under the Sealdah Circulating Development Project, the Railway station authorities aimed at developing lanes for taxis, autos, pedestrian and private vehicles to make the entry and exit to Sealdah Station systematic and congestion-free.

The Amrit Station scheme has a master plan and depending on the availability of funds the improvements are being made in a phase-wise manner. In the first phase, they planned to improve the circulating area, facade, concourse, signages and redevelopment of platform 12 and 13 which are long distance platforms. The facade lighting of Sealdah Railway was also improved. The work of platform extension has also started. Sealdah handles nearly 12 lakh people a day and with the increasing number of commuters, 12 coaches are required but they have constraints at Sealdah. Hence, the work is being conducted on platforms 1 to 5 to extend it and make it fit to run 12 coach EMUs.

According to DRM, the work on two of the platforms will be completed by March and the rest by May.