To strengthen the rail Network in the hill state of Uttarakhand, Rs 5,004 crore has been allocated in the Union Budget. Under the station development scheme, two major stations — Haridwar and Dehradun — will be equipped with world-class facilities and nine other stations will be revamped.
Minister of railways Ashwini Vaishnaw said that “Uttarakhand has been allocated a record budget for this financial year, which is higher than many other northern states of the country”.
Vaishnaw had said that during the Congress government at the Centre from 2009 to 2014 the Average allocation for the state in the rail budget was only Rs 187 crore which has now been increased manifold. Stations in the state which will be revamped during the next fiscal include Roorkee, Kotdwar, Harrawala, Kashipur, Lalkuan, Ramnagar, Tanakpur, Kichchha and Kathgodam. Moradabad’s divisional RAILWAY manager (DRM) Ajay Nandan Singh said that with the commencement of long distance trains from Harrawala station, passengers’ load at Dehradun station will reduce by at least 25%.