Five platforms at Sealdah Station, one of the busiest railway stations in India, will be extended so they can accommodate local trains with 12 coaches, instead of nine.
Platforms 1 to 5, which are smaller than the rest of the platforms at the station, are among those that cater to the Sealdah North suburban section, which links Kolkata with North-24 Parganas, Nadia and Murshidabad.
Close to 400 trains ply in this section every day, ferrying over 7 lakh passengers, railway officials said.
Some of the trains between Sealdah and places like Bongaon (North-24 Parganas), Santipur and Ranaghat (Nadia) and Lalgola (Murshidabad) are so crowded that they are subjects of recurrent memes.
Twelve-coach local trains are replacing nine-coach rakes across the country. Each coach usually carries around 200 passengers. But the number is many times more during rush hours.
Sealdah Station has 22 platforms. The remaining 17 are capable of accommodating 12-coach trains. Some were built that way, some had to be renovated.
Work on platforms 1 to 5 was long-pending, officials said.
“The infrastructure on these platforms for handling 12-coach rakes is getting ready. The extension of platforms 1 to 5 is a major step in that direction. The work had been pending for a long time. Now, it is finally in full flow. All five platforms will be extended by the end of May,” said a railway official.
Each platform is now around 210m long. Post-extension, the length will be 270m.
“Each platform will have a 10m extension towards the concourse and 60m towards the Narkeldanga maintenance yard,” he said.
The railway yard has also been remodelled so that it can accommodate 12-coach trains.
The renovated yard will be among a slew of railway projects to be inaugurated virtually by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.
“Platforms 1 to 5 handle over 100 trains every day. They travel between Sealdah and places like Bongaon, Barasat (in North-24 Parganas) and Lalgola (Murshidabad). The daily passenger count is over 2 lakh,” said an official in the commercial department of the Sealdah division.
In total, Sealdah sees around 12 lakh passengers every day. It includes the Sealdah South suburban section, which connects Kolkata with pockets in South 24-Parganas such as Namkhana, Canning, Diamond Harbour and Budge Budge.
Of the approximately 900 EMU (local) trains that travel to and from Sealdah Station every day, a significant number have 12 coaches.
“We have sought eight more 12-coach rakes from the Integral Coach Factory (in Perambur, near Chennai). They should arrive in six months. After that, we will switch entirely to 12-coach localtrains. But we want to have the required infrastructure in place before that,” said Deepak Nigam, divisional railway manager, Sealdah division.
Trains cancelled
The installation of a new electronic-interlocking system at Dum Dum Junction station will need a 52-hour traffic block starting the intervening midnight between Friday and Saturday. The block will lead to the cancellation of many local trains that pass through Dum Dum.
“The block will be between 12am on March 16 to 4am on March 18 (Monday). Accordingly, trains will be regulated/short-terminated/cancelled in the Sealdah-Barrackpore/Naihati sections and Sealdah-Dum Dum Cantonment section. There will be no local train services between Dum Dum and Kolkata (Chitpore),” said an official of the Sealdah division.
“Out of the 892 EMU services, 143 have been cancelled and 46 will be short-terminated at Dum Dum Cantonment Station. Three non-reserved mail/express trains will remain cancelled — the Sealdah-Asansol-Sealdah Intercity Express, the Sealdah-Jangipur-Sealdah Express and the Sealdah-Suri-Sealdah Express.
Local trains between Sealdah and Namkhana, Canning, Diamond Harbourand Budge Budge will run according to schedule, the official said.