New lines, platforms at Ambala Cantt railway station soon

Tribune News Service

Ambala, October 30

In view of the rising train traffic and to ensure smooth operations, the Ambala division of the Northern Railway has come up with a plan to expand the Ambala Cantonment railway station by introducing two new lines and platforms at the station.

Currently, the Ambala Cantonment railway station has seven platforms, but many times trains have to be stopped in the outer area or the yard of the station due to the non-availability of platforms.

As per information, nearly 250-300 trains, including the festive special, election special and other special trains are run daily, and about 80-90 goods trains are also operated from here. A senior official of the Railways said new trains were being introduced, due to which the train traffic had increased over the years.

Due to the unavailability of platforms, the trains have to be stopped outside the station. The Railways officials have to wait for trains to depart from the platform before letting the next train enter the station, leading to unnecessary delay. Expansion of the cantonment station has been proposed to address these issues.

Mandeep Singh Bhatia, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Ambala Division, said, “The train traffic will increase further in the coming years. For smooth operations and to ensure that the passengers don’t have to wait for their trains to enter the station, it has been decided to get more platforms constructed. Its feasibility was checked and drawings have been prepared. Further process to prepare the estimate has been initiated. Two new lines will be laid and the number of platforms will be increased to nine, towards the diesel depot.”

Meanwhile, the shifting of the goods trains to the freight corridor will also help the Railways authorities in increasing the train traffic for passengers and ensure smooth operations.

Pankaj Gupta, Chief General Manager, Ambala unit, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation Limited (DFCCIL), said, “Operations on the Shambhu-Sahnewal section of the freight corridor will start from the first week of November. The Pilkhani-Kalanaur section will be started in November while the operations on the Shambhu-Kalanaur section will start from December.”

“The project will help in creating additional rail transport capacity as the goods trains will be shifted to the freight corridor, allowing the Railways to increase the train traffic for passengers on the main line,” he added.

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