Indian Railways station or 5-Star Hotel? Big surprise for devotees going to Balaji Temple

Indian Railways is continuously enhancing passenger amenities for its commuters. From modernisation of stations to trains with world-class facilities, the public transporter has been working to provide passengers with a luxurious stay at its retiring rooms and a comfortable journey on board a train. Now, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has tweeted about yet another sterling service that Indian Railways has rolled out.

As per the directions of the Ministry of Railways, as many as 24 stations have been identified for improvement of passenger amenities in association with Ministry of Tourism on 50-50 cost-sharing basis. One of them is Tirupati, which is among the most popular pilgrim destinations in India and is the abode of Lord Venkateshwara at Tirumala, Tirupati.

Tirupati is NSG2 category station (erstwhile A1 category station). Tirupati sees a continuous flow of lakhs of pilgrims all round the year, with the auspicious periods/months seeing an extra big rush of traffic. Average footfall per day is 75, 000 passengers.

"To cater to the growing footfalls, the South Central Railway is re-developing the station and has also completed the work of a luxurious lounge with state of the art facilities at Tirupati Railway station in association with the Ministry of Tourism," revealed the SCR PRO Ch Rakesh to ZeeBiz.com.

 
As a part of this re-development initiative, an estimate has been prepared for an amount of Rs 11 crore for enhancing passenger amenities at Tirupati Railway station. Rakesh said that the proposed facilities include the provision of a new Waiting hall in Platforms 4 & 5, improvements in existing booking office, new cloakroom, new announcement and display boards among others.

Railway Station or 5-Star Hotel? There is a surprise in store for devotees travelling to Balaji Temple, with 'ATITHI', a premium lounge at Tirupati Station set to be inaugurated soon pic.twitter.com/O5LTJxxit2

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) January 12, 2019

This premium lounge, which is to be equipped with modern facilities with international standards is expected to be ready soon with an approximate cost of Rs 85 lakhs.

"Host of facilities are expected to be ready for rail users in this lounge like a comfortable waiting facility with spacious rooms, free Internet, hot and cold beverages, comfortable seating, cold and hot beverages like Tea, coffee, cold drinks, newspapers, magazines, TV, instrumental music, washroom, locker, and luggage rack," said the CPRO.

Rakesh said that the lounge will be inaugurated shortly for the travellers and the authorities are working to finalise the uses charges.