Mangalagiri Railway Station: A harbinger of aspirational India
In Subarnarekha, Ritwik Ghatak used the platform environment to signal loss, migration and despair. In Satyajit Ray’s Apur Sansar, the reconciliation scene near the end (Apu and Kajal) happens in and around a railway station. Shankar Nag used the railway station as a rendezvous for the village life at Arasalu in the immortal Malgudi Days. And who can forget Simran running on a railway platform as Raj reaches out to her?
In India, railway stations are not mere physical spaces but a cultural construct; a potpourri where people of different colours, genres, genders meet and greet; where people with diverse social and economic background come together, all the while speaking different languages, eating different foods, singing their own local tunes. In many towns, even to this day, the station master is revered as an icon and one of the most recognizable faces around.
The Indian Railways has been striving to make stations bigger and better. A number of schemes have been announced over the years to develop the railway stations. One of such was the Adarsh Station Scheme which was launched in 2009-10 with a view to develop passenger amenities like improvements to the waiting halls, circulating areas, construction of Foot Over Brides etc. While a lot was done to upgrade passenger amenities, the same was not enough as it was viewed as incremental in approach.
A 360-degree view was needed to make the station a harbinger of aspirational India. Can a station be a hub of economic activity? Can the station reflect modernity and tradition? These musings culminated in issuing of comprehensive instructions for major upgradation of stations into AMRIT stations in 2022 under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme. 1275 stations all over the country were taken up for upgradation under this scheme. The stations chosen were not only metros or big cities but also smaller ones with meagre footfall. The idea was that people living in smaller towns have as much right to be a part of “Amrit Kaal” and enjoy state-of-the-art facilities as their brethren residing in bigger cities.
The Amrit stations were identified as a city centre with seamless multi modal connectivity and strengthening of access roads in order to facilitate transit orient development. Planning entailed structural improvements by way of improving station approaches after due discussions with local civic bodies to ensure smooth access by widening of roads, removal of unwanted structures, properly designed signages, dedicated pedestrian pathways, well planned parking areas, improved lighting etc. In addition, the focus was on enhancing user experience with proper landscaping, developing green patches and using local art and culture to create a balance offering modern amenities with a touch of tradition.
Another key feature of Amrit station is inclusion by way of providing adequate facilities for Divyangjans. These include Divyangjan friendly toilets with ramps and holding rails, provision of special parking areas with suitable signs, separate booking counters, ramps in foot-over-bridges, sufficient signages in Braille, tactile strips on platforms for guidance, etc.
The idea is to make our Divyangjan brothers and sisters self-sufficient right from the point of entering station to boarding of trains.Take the example of Mangalagiri railway station in Andhra Pradesh which has been developed as an Amrit station. The town has long been famous for kalamkari and mangalagiri saris, Buddhist temples and paintings. The station is projected to be an important landmark in the upcoming capital city of Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh.
The station has been upgraded with all customer amenities like AC waiting halls, retiring rooms, proper signages, divyang facilities, coach indication boards, etc. The façade has been beautifully decorated with kalamkari paintings. A portrait of a weaver and of Buddha in meditation adorn the entry points as a tribute to the local traditions and sentiments. Mangalgari is one of 73 stations in Andhra Pradesh which has been taken for redevelopment under the Amrit Station scheme.
The scene in Satayjit Ray’s Pather Panchali where Apu and Durga are mesmerised to watch a train whistle past was perhaps an attempt by the master film maker to symbolise the emerging India in 1955. Somewhere along the way, the railways and the stations did not get the impetus they deserved. As we stand on the threshold of Viksit Bharat, the Amrit stations will add to the glory of a modern railway network and herald the Amrit kal of railways.
(The writer is DRM Guntur. Views are personal)
