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Our Bureau

Kolkata , Oct. 5

WORK on the improvement of the Howrah Station complex, both old and new, for which Rs 8 crore has been sanctioned by the Indian Railways, began today through commencement of construction of new platform No 17 at the new complex.

Work on the re-modelling of the old complex, now in its 100th year of construction and enhancement of facilities are being taken up.

Briefing newspersons at the site, Mr Shyam Kumar, General Manager, Eastern Railway, said the new platform will be able to accommodate 24 coach trains and will have a washable apron made of ballast concrete track, which is expected to improve cleanliness, safety and provide an aesthetic look.

Announcing that work on the construction of platform No 22 will also be taken up, Mr Kumar said the new platforms will basically deal with the trains of South Eastern Railway (SER), though in an emergency, trains of ER too can come into these platforms. The estimated cost of construction of the new platform is Rs 3.5 crore.

Howrah station now has 21 platforms, out of which platforms 1 to 15 are in the old complex, used mainly for ER trains including both EMU and mail/express trains and also a few SER mail/express trains, platform 16 for parcel traffic and platforms 18 to 21 in the new complex are for running of long distance SER trains.

According to Mr R.R. Bhandari, GM, SER, once the new platforms come into operation, which is most likely by April 2006, and with the new Chitpore train terminal of ER (with at least two platforms initially) also coming into play by the end 2005, much of the current platform constraint at Howrah station would be eased at least for the next 10 years.

Chitpore terminal will have five platforms in all, to be used mainly for ER trains, which cater heavily to suburban traffic. The plan initially, according to Mr Kumar, was to run five trains daily from the two platforms at Chitpore, which was designed to run 25 trains daily from five platforms.

An amount of Rs 100 crore has been allocated for the new Chitpore terminal, which will have besides maintenance facilities, a comprehensive water supply management system.

Centenary of the Howrah old complex, now a declared heritage site, will be commemorated through a week-long series of programmes by ER, beginning December 1. Mr Kumar formally released the logo specially made for the centenary celebrations of the station building.

According to Mr Bhandari, construction of a proper railway station complex at Howrah was conceived and executed in the 1840s by the then East Indian Railway, the forerunner of the Indian Railways, based on a plan prepared by Rolland Stevenson, who spearheaded the project.

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