Railway passengers used to endless confusion and chaos because of traffic bottlenecks outside the Capital's three major railway stations can now look forward to some relief with Northern Railway planning to streamline the vehicular flow on the main approach roads of the stations.
The plans, which include introduction of dedicated lanes for different types of vehicles and alteration of entry and exit points, would be put in place at the New Delhi, Hazrat Nizamuddin and Old Delhi railway stations to eliminate conflicting traffic movement that leads to jams.
According to Northern Railway Divisional Manager (Delhi) Ashwini Lohani, these traffic streamlining plans will be executed as part of an overall facelift and re-development of the three stations before the Commonwealth Games this October.
“The main problem which was noticed at the Nizamuddin station was that all vehicles crowded together at the main entrance side choking both traffic and pedestrian movement. To overcome this problem we have utilised the space of the abandoned garden in front of the station and introduced a lane system to segregate traffic into dedicated lanes meant for autos, taxis, cars, reserved entry and through movement. Similar arrangements have been planned for the New Delhi and Old Delhi railway stations,” he added.
To improve pedestrian movement at the station entrance, upgrading of footpaths and pathways is also being undertaken. This improvement would, however, be restricted to the main entry side and not the chaotic Sarai Kale Khan side as according to Northern Railway the land there is not under its jurisdiction. “The land on the Sarai Kale Khan side does not belong to us and so we would only be doing minor beautifications works on that side,” said Mr. Lohani.
In addition to introducing dedicated lanes for streamlining traffic flow at the station entrances, the Northern Railway has also closed several entry and exit points and created new ones to regulate traffic movement at these stations.
“At the Old Delhi station we noticed that a large number of slow-moving vehicles such as push-carts and cycle-rickshaws were using the station entry road as a thoroughfare from S. P. Mukherjee Marg and disrupting normal traffic flow for passengers headed for the station. So we have closed this entry point,” said Mr. Lohani, adding, “Similarly at the New Delhi station we have increased the number of exit points for vehicles from one to two, shifted the existing parking and made separate lanes for private cars, taxis and autos. All these works are likely to be completed by August-end.”
