France to help revamp Ambala railway station

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Ambala, June 12

The railway infrastructure in northern India is in for a major revamp with India and France joining hands to develop Ambala and Ludhiana railway stations besides upgrading speed on the Delhi-Chandigarh section.

The French National Railways (SNCF) will carry out the ambitious project with the help of 7 lakh euros in-kind grant to be provided by the French development agency AFD, senior functionaries said here today.

Both India and France reached an agreement to this effect under a tripartite MoU signed between the Indian Railway Station Development Corporation (IRSDC), the SNCF and the AFD.

Under the pact, the AFD would provide in-kind grant of up to 7 lakh euros through French National Railways (SNCF)-Hubs and Connexions as a technical partner to the IRSDC to support the Railway Station Development Programme in India without imposing any financial liability on the IRSDC or Indian Railways, sources said.

The agreement was signed in the presence of Union Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi, French Minister of State for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean Baptiste Lemoyne and Ambassador of France in India Alexandre Ziegler. 

Lauding the French Railways for agreeing to revamp Ambala and Ludhiana railway stations and assisting Indian Railways in conducting speed upgrade study on the Delhi-Chandigarh section, Angadi hoped that a strong and long-standing partnership between 

India and France would help revamp the Ambala railway sector. 

Hoping that the railway stations will be upgraded to world-class standards, he said this initiative would go a long way in further strengthening the Indo-French cooperation.

5th busiest junction

• Ambala Cantonment railway station, located at the junction of the Delhi-Kalka line and the Moradabad-Ambala line-cum-Ambala-Attari line, is the fifth busiest railway station in India after Kanpur Central, Vijayawada Junction, Delhi junction and New Delhi in terms of frequency of trains. 
• It handles over 300 trains that start, end or pass through the station daily. One of the main division of Indian Railways, Ambala Cantonment junction, with eight platforms, serves most number of Shatabdi Express trains after New Delhi.