Mumbai, Nov 3 The Western Railway has commissioned a gigantic Yatri Suvidha Kendra (passenger holding area) at Udhna station in Gujarat, equipped to handle 1.25 lakh passengers daily, officials said on Tuesday.
The facility could be the largest of its kind in the country, an official said.
The integrated Passenger Facilitation Centre, spread over nearly 10,000 square metres, was opened to passengers on October 31 after being completed in less than five months, officials said.
The facility, developed at a cost of Rs 40 crore, can accommodate 15,000 to 20,000 passengers at a time and has been designed to regulate the movement of passengers to platforms, particularly during festival seasons.
The centre is divided into three sections — pre-ticketing, ticketing and post-ticketing — allowing passengers to wait in a designated space and proceed to platforms shortly before the arrival of their trains.
It has an entry plaza spread over 2,000 square metres and a 3,000-square-metre walkway. The post-ticketing area alone can accommodate around 3,500 passengers at a time and provides multiple access routes to platform number 6, from where mainly unreserved trains to the northern and eastern parts of the country leave.
The centre has separate toilet facilities for men, women and persons with disabilities, a baby-feeding room, drinking water with RO filtration, a vertical garden, dustbins, CCTV cameras with facial recognition technology, and high-volume low-speed (HVLS) fans.
Ten ticket counters have been provided for passengers purchasing unreserved tickets. Separate seating arrangements have also been made for senior citizens, women, pregnant women and persons with disabilities.
Tushar Mishra, Chief Officer of the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), said the facility was constructed using prefabricated technology, with GRC screens and polycarbonate sheets to ensure ventilation and natural lighting.
Officials said the project faced challenges due to heavy rainfall in Gujarat during the monsoon and the site’s black cotton soil, but was completed on schedule.
Vineet Abhishek, chief public relations officer of Western Railway, said that Udhna has been developed as an alternative to Surat over the past six to seven years, with its capacity expanded from three platforms to six.
Surat, a major diamond and textile hub, attracts a large migrant workforce from different parts of the country. Passenger traffic rises substantially during Holi, Diwali, Chhath and summer vacations.
The passenger numbers during festival seasons have been increasing by 20 to 30 per cent annually, accompanied by a rise in regular and special train services, Abhishek said.
He said that the holding facility aims to prevent passengers from gathering on platforms long before their trains arrive.
“The facility is half a kilometre long and 36 metres wide and can accommodate 15,000 to 20,000 people. It is equipped with all essential amenities and is one of the largest, and probably the largest, passenger facility centres of its kind, with comprehensive facilities,” Abhishek said.
(PTI News)
