The double lockdowns in the first and second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic proved to be a boon for improving passenger amenities at various railway stations under South Eastern Railway.

A report on station infrastructure development work released by Garden Reach, the Calcutta-based headquarters of South Eastern Railway on Sunday revealed that major thrust was given to improve facilities in stations in order to make them more passenger-friendly.

It includes raising of platforms, development of circulating areas, construction of foot over bridges, beautification and overall station development work.

During the lockdown since last year, platform raising work was completed at 18 stations under the jurisdiction of SER which includes Ranchi, Chakradharpur, Haldipada and Burnpur.

In the current financial year, SER has decided to complete platform raising work at 17 more stations under Chakradharpur, Ranchi and Kharagpur divisions.

Development of the circulating area has been recently completed at 10 stations under various divisions. The development work of circulating areas in those stations had begun during the lockdown last year.

SER has plans to improve the circulating area of four more stations including Tatanagar in Chakradharpur division and Uluberia in Kharagpur division during the current financial year 2021-22.

The report says that platform shelter work has been completed at nine stations including Rourkela in Chakradharpur division, Kharagpur and Tamluk in Kharagpur division.

SER has set a target for completion of platform shelter work at six more stations including Adityapur, Kandra - both under Chakradharpur division and Balichak under Kharagpur division.

With a view to ensure safety and ease the movement of passengers, 14 new foot over bridges have been constructed in various stations under SER including Chakulia, Bisra- both in Chakradharpur division and Santragachi under Kharagpur division during the past one year.

The report says that foot bridges would come up in another 29 stations including Tatanagar, Jhargram, Bagnan, Kharagpur and Chakradharpur during the current financial year.

As a part of beautification drive SER has developed vertical gardening in various railway stations under its jurisdiction including Tatanagar during the lockdown.

Chief public relations officer of South Eastern Railway, Sanjay Ghosh said, " The pandemic-induced lockdowns provided an opportunity to execute necessary infrastructure and beautification work without much hassles."

In addition, he said they have redevelopment plans of several stations including Ranchi, Bokaro Steel City, Jharsuguda, Shalimar and Santragachi, which would be implemented in phases.