Sealdah station will in the near future have a second entry point, Arun Arora, general manager of Eastern Railway, said on Monday.
“Now, suburban and long-distance passengers enter Sealdah through the same gates under the facade. We are planning to build another entry point on Canal East Road,” Arora told a news conference at Fairlie Place, the headquarters of Eastern Railway.
“The plan is to have long-distance passengers enter through the Canal East Road gates.”
Before the pandemic, Sealdah station saw an average daily footfall of around 20 lakh, suburban and long-distance passengers combined. Post-pandemic, the number is slightly lower. “We now have a daily passenger count of around 17-18 lakh,” said an official of the Sealdah division.
The Sealdah suburban section has two sub-sections, Sealdah Main and Sealdah South.
Howrah station sees a daily passenger count of around nine to 10 lakh daily, an official in the Howrah division said.
There are around 650 trains at Howrah station every day. The Eastern Railway has around 450 and the South Eastern Railway around 220, he said.
The construction of East-West Metro led to roadblocks around Sealdah station. The east-west corridor, which would link Howrah Maidan and Salt Lake Sector V once fully operational, now connects Sealdah and Sector V.
The East-West construction around Sealdah is being wrapped up gradually, said Arora.
Howrah, Kolkata, Bandel, Asansol, Bhagalpur and Jasidih stations will get a facelift, Arora said.
Asansol and Howrah will be renovated by 2026, he said. “The arrivals and departures at the two stations will be separated,” he said.
The Eastern Railway has achieved the “best-ever” revenue of Rs 10,502 crore in the last fiscal (2022-23), Arora said.
Revenue from passenger tickets as well as freight carriage have been the highest ever this fiscal, he said.
Negligence cry against NRS
Parents and relatives of a 30-year-old woman from northeast Kolkata’s Beleghata, who died at the NRS Medical College and Hospital on Monday morning, have accused doctors at the hospital of negligence.
They alleged that Rimpa Dey, who was admitted to the hospital in the early hours with complaints of chest and abdominal pain, was left untreated.
The woman died around 6am. Her family members alleged that she died because of negligence.
The hospital authorities said they would order an investigation into the allegation if the family lodged a complaint.