Nagpur Today.
The construction work on the new railway platform is going on a war footing. The need for a home platform on the western side was felt for a long time, keeping in mind the growing number of passengers making an entry on exit from the western side.
The general populace of the city has been demanding this for a very long time too. The old Nagpur City Railway Line is situated on the western side which, in the beginning used to host trains from the direction of Wardha and Bhusawal in 1867.
The arrival of Railways in India, specially to Nagpur was a historic moment since it was not only a new means of transport then but also a modern business. This was also because railways was a new way of living life for the traditional, feudal rural Indian populace. The manner in which British Government and its Army worked on the rural development work, the development work was achieved in the West side of city railway station too.
It is obvious that this massive and grand building was erected using delicate Sandstone because it is available only in this part of the country. Those denizens of the city who used to reside in the lower parts of the city had to cross the railway yard to reach the main entrance of the Nagpur Railway Station. The slow pace with which the construction of the Road over Bridge (ROB) is going on for the past 6 months is harrowing for the Citizens. The woes of the railway users will end only with the construction of a user friendly entrance at the western side close to the famous Santhra Market of the city famed for its oranges. The new Entrance has a replica of the contemporary Orange which reminds of being in the famous Orange city. The Eastern side is under planning of having an artificial canopy and a new circulating area.
Escalators, Drop and go facility, Auto Stand, Parking for two-wheelers and cars are other facilities available here. The Western end of the Railway station is however famous and of historic and of heritage value.
The Eastern entrance displays a modern and a contemporary style. The proposed world class Nagpur Station too exists on these lines. Similarly, the Nagpur Metro too will be passing from here and will have connectivity fro the Eastern side only. These new changes have made this a favourite and attractive entrance. Some of the remaining works like the roof on the entire platform, a washable concrete apron below the tracks will be undertaken in the second phase.
Therefore the rail users of orange city will soon get a New Year gift. The Eastern side will be soon getting a new and attractive platform constructed. This new homeland Platform No 8 is of a unique design. This platform will be fully leakproof and will have sufficient water facility and an added pleasing atmosphere with the diffused lighting system. The drinking water facility is made through coolers and aqua-guards on stands of attractive designs. With green patches, the entire aura of the platform is attractive and pleasing to the eyes and mind.
This railway platform will also host a Heritage gallery where old watches, lamps, bells, benches and other old relics which is preserved and displayed for the future generations.
This new home platform will have a unique attraction and facility of car-to-coach for the benefit of the city denizens. This facility is available in some selected big stations only. Nagpur Railway Station will have the honour to be added to this list soon. In order to reach this platform, the passengers would not have to go over the ROB and can directly reach the platform on their two-wheelers or cars. Initially this platform will be used for those trains originating from Nagpur Station.
There were a lot of problems and hindrances to make this dream project come true. To begin with there was a goods godown on this location. The goods godown was a source of income for the railways. Therefore moving this was not possible at all. So a new location had been searched to move the goods godown. This required a lot of sources which was very less. Even where the permission to construct was available, funds were not available making it difficult even for the sources to allay from this problem. But using designs and modern and novel methods of low cost construction using recycled goods this deficit was fulfilled. The project had to face the ire of employees and their union who opposed the project tooth and nail because the employees have to be transferred to the new platform.
There was a dearth of time to complete the project. The entire work had to completed within one year. Usually such work takes a long time right from the approval of the project, estimate, permission for the work plan, awarding contracts, the actual execution of the project etc. takes a very long time which runs into many years. As Murphy’s law rightly says, if something somewhere has to go wrong it will go wrong nevertheless. But fighting all odds, this project was completed in the scheduled time.
