Kolkata: Three days after India’s busiest station turned 162, railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw inaugurated the newly extended platforms for accommodating 12-car EMU locals at the Sealdah station.
“After extension of platforms 1 to 5, all 21 platforms at Sealdah station are equipped to park 12-car rakes. More stations in the division will be upgraded this way,” the minister said.
Virtually flagging off MEMU services between Azimganj and Krishnanagar, Vaishnaw said the connectivity had been long overdue due to land bottlenecks.
He urged the state to extend cooperation for 61 rail projects worth Rs 60,000 crore. These projects, he said, were stuck because of land issues.
On Wednesday, the minister also opened the swank Rail Coach Restaurant at Sealdah station. BJP MP Samik Bhattacharya suggested the station be renamed after Shyama Prasad Mookerjee. Among the others who attended the event were minister of state for education Sukanta Majumdar, minister of state for ports, shipping and waterways Santanu Thakur and Eastern Railway general manager Milind Deouskar.
“PM Narendra Modi is introducing new links for Bengal, like the Radhikapur-Anand Vihar Terminal Express (also flagged off on Wednesday). The nine Vande Bharat trains running in Bengal have ushered a new era of high speed rail connectivity," he said. Vaishnaw said Kolkata Metro Railway spanned only 28 km from 1972 to 2014. “In the last 10 years, under Modi ji’s stewardship, 38 km has been added to the network,” he said.
On Wednesday, the minister also visited Braithwaite & Co Ltd at Garden Reach for a “shramdaan” programme and an inspection of the PSU. He then went to Gandhi Bhavan to offer tributes to Mahatma Gandhi.