By – Prakarash Kastwar
The Ayodhya Dham junction train station has lifts, escalators, food plazas, stores for puja supplies, child care rooms, and waiting halls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened Phase I of the renovated Ayodhya railway station, also known as Ayodhya Dham junction railway station, on Saturday, and flagged off new Amrit Bharat and Vande Bharat trains. Several more railway projects were also dedicated to the nation by him. Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, greeted Modi warmly as he arrived at Ayodhya.
Modi’s visit to Ayodhya comes just weeks before the Ram Temple’s great dedication ceremony on January 22.
At 12.15 p.m., he will also inaugurate the Maharishi Valmiki International Airport Ayodhya Dham.
Around 1 p.m., Modi will take part in a public program in which he will inaugurate, tender to the nation, and lay the groundwork for a number of development projects worth more than Rs. 15,000 crore in the state.
These include projects costing approximately 11,100 crore for the development of Ayodhya and its surrounding areas, as well as projects worth approximately 4,600 crore for other projects throughout Uttar Pradesh.
What you should know about the Ayodhya Dham Junction railway station
- The development of Ayodhya Dham Junction railway station has incurred expenses above ₹240 crore.
- The three-story, contemporary train station building has all the amenities of today, including cloakrooms, child care areas, food plazas, escalators, lifts, and stores for puja supplies.
- The station building will be “green station building certified by IGBC” and “accessible for all.
Six Vande Bharat trains and two Amrit Bharat trains
From the reconstructed Ayodhya Dham Railway Station, Modi will flag off two Amrit Bharat and six Vande Bharat Express trains.
- The LHB push-pull feature is a new feature of the Amrit Bharat Express class of ultrafast passenger trains. Coaches on these trains lack refrigeration, though.
- There are locos on either end of this train to improve acceleration. More amenities for rail passengers include well-designed seats, better luggage racks, LED lighting, CCTV, public information systems, and mobile charging stations with appropriate holders.
- The new Amrit Bharat trains will run as the Malda Town-Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminus (Bengaluru) Amrit Bharat Express and the Darbhanga-Ayodhya-Anand Vihar Terminal Amrit Bharat Express.
- Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra-New Delhi Vande Bharat Express, Amritsar-Delhi Vande Bharat Express, Coimbatore-Bangalore Cantt Vande Bharat Express, Mangalore-Madgaon Vande Bharat Express, Jalna-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express, and Ayodhya-Anand Vihar Terminal Vande Bharat Express were launched.
- The PM also dedicated to the nation three railway projects costing Rs 2,300 crore to strengthen regional rail infrastructure. The projects include the Rooma Chakeri-Chanderi third line project; the Jaunpur-Tulsi Nagar, Akbarpur-Ayodhya, Sohawal-Patranga, and Safdarganj-Rasauli parts of the Jaunpur-Ayodhya-Barabanki doubling project; and the Malhaur-Daliganj railway segment doubling and electrification project.