10-05-2025
Deadline a month away, Ghaziabad station revamp just 25% over
Ghaziabad: Ghaziabad station's renovation has progressed only 25% since Jan 2023, making the 30-month timeline appear unrealistic. The Rs 350-crore project seeks to transform the single-storey building, spanning 1.5 lakh sqm, into a three-floor complex and add new amenities like foot overbridges, escalators, automatic ticket vending machines and multi-level parking.
A 24-metre skywalk is also set to integrate the six existing platforms, in addition to two FOBs with ramps for hassle-free commute. A multi-level parking and a dedicated lane within the station premises will come up for e-buses. A signal training school and 96 railway quarters are also proposed to come far, Evanascol-Sindhuja, the executing agency, has demolished the staff quarters—Ganga Hostel, the oldest staff quarters built in 1955 to accommodate railway trainees, is being dismantled, along with Yamuna, Saraswati, and Sutlej hostels. But work on the station complex has yet to start."It is a busy station with an average daily footfall of 50,000 passengers. Over 200 trains pass through the Delhi-Howrah main line here. Redevelopment of the station building is progressing in phases and is likely to be completed by Feb 2026," an official to officials, the imposition of Graded Response Action Plan stages 3 and 4, which ban construction and demolition activities in Delhi-NCR due to poor air quality, has also slowed the work. Earlier, the project was delayed for green clearances—over 190 trees were felled for the UP is focusing on developing seamless multi-modal connections with rapid rail and metro stations, ISBTs and UP roadways buses in Ghaziabad. But the British-era station still lacks modern passenger amenities. While the station's two main entries—one from Vijay Nagar side and the other from the city side—have escalators, passengers continue to lug their luggage from one platform to the other. The station also lacks a holding area, which could be potentially risky in case of a crowd build-up. During Maha Kumbh in Feb, a huge crowd had built up on Platform No. 2 of Ghaziabad junction as two trains, reached the platform 2 within a gap of 20 minutes and yet another made an unscheduled halt on the main line, leading to a rush of people who alighted from the train and rushed towards the platform. The overcrowding came just three days after a stampede left 18 people dead at New Delhi station and triggered panic among passengers.
