Structural work done, city railway station’s revamp inching towards completion

With structural and other work on several components almost complete and the finishing job in progress, the redevelopment and upgrade of the Ludhiana railway station at the cost of Rs 528.95 crore is inching fast towards completion, the Northern Railway (NR) has said.

The work on the big ticket central project is progressing fast to meet the August deadline with structural work on multi-level car parking, rest house and hospital building already completed while the work on east and west side main station buildings, elevated approach road, concourse, foot over bridges, through roof, cover over platforms and construction of multi-storied quarters in full swing.

The architectural design for the new-look junction had already been approved while the geotechnical investigation, survey and relocation of existing structures had also been completed.

The project, which was awarded on the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) mode to a local firm on December 19, 2022, has been targeted to be completed by August 2.

Being undertaken through the EPC mode, the redevelopment work entails a host of new facilities and upgrade of existing services to give a new and modern look to the British era’s biggest junction in the Ferozepur Division, officials have revealed.

The total project cost of Rs 528.95 crore included the contract value of Rs 472.94 crore, project management consultant (PMC) cost of Rs 4.56 crore and other allied expenditures.

Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had approved the redevelopment and upgrade of the Ludhiana railway station in December 2022 following the demand raised by Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora. He had met Vaishnaw to demand major infrastructure uplift and revamp of the junction while highlighting its poor state.

The development assumes significance as it was the first major revamp of the railway station established here, way back in 1860.

A visit to the site on Monday revealed that the structural work of the multi-level car parking had been completed and its finishing job was in full swing.

The east side main station building superstructure erection was also completed with first floor slab and the ACC block work, and launching of structure columns and beams in progress.

The foundation work of the west side building was almost completed with first floor slab work in progress.

The construction of the elevated approach road was also in the advanced stage of completion with 186 of the total 193 piling works, 36 of the 52 pile caps, 31 of the 52 piers, and five of the 17 pier caps already finished. The superstructure work was under fabrication.

The east side underground tank structure work has been done while the foundation work of concourse and foot over bridges on platform 1, 2, and 3 has also been completed while the same on platform 4, 5, 6, and 7 was in progress.

Foundations of the through roof, covers over platform 1, 2, and 3 have been done while the same for platform 4, 5, 6, and 7 was in progress.

The structural work for the construction of multi-storied quarters Type-II and Type-III (A and B blocks) with 31 of the total 38 slab castings have been completed before initiating the finishing job.

The other jobs already completed included terrace floor of Type-II C block quarters, fourth floor slab of Type-II D block quarters, structural work and AAC block work of rest house and hospital building.

With finishing work of all structures completed in full swing, the construction of Type-III E and F blocks and Type-IV multi-storied quarters was also in progress.

All RCC slabs up to terrace level for Type-IV quarters have been casted with AAC block and finishing work on them is in progress.

It followed after the architectural design for the redevelopment and upgrade of the railway station was approved.

The construction and allied works have been expedited on the ground after the geotechnical investigation, survey work and the work involving relocation of existing facilities had been completed.

Besides, 90 per cent of the approvals for the structural and 80 per cent of the MEP designs have also been granted so far.

The railway station development work involved relocation of 130 existing quarters, rest house, hospital, main station building and railway offices for clearance of the site for construction of main and secondary entry of the new station building.