Lok Sabha Question No. 1644 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-30
Subject: Renovation of Meerut City Station
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri Arun Govil

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1644 TO BE ANSWERED ON 30.07.2025

## RENOVATION OF MEERUT CITY STATION

## †1644. SHRI ARUN GOVIL:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the approved renovation work of Meerut city station is likely to start soon, if so, the details thereof;
- (b)  whether  daily  late  running  of  the  shuttle  train  from  Meerut  to  Delhi causes inconvenience to daily commuters, if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether running a train from Meerut to Bijnor leads to development of Hastinapur and the entire region, if so, the details thereof;
- (d)  whether  the  upgradation  of  Kharkhanda  station  is  pending  for  ten years, if so, the details thereof;
- (e)  whether  a  train  is  likely  to  start  running  from  Meerut  to  MathuraVrindavan via Hapur, if so, the details thereof; and
- (f)  whether  the  daily  passenger  train  from  Meerut  to  Khurja  is  likely  to
- run thrice a day as before, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND

ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

(a) to (f): Meerut city railway station has been identified for development under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme. The master plan of the Meerut City redevelopment work envisages construction of new station  building  on main entry and second entry side, improved waiting area, construction of

12 m and 06 m wide foot over bridge, provision of lifts and escalators, platform  up-gradation,  provision  of  platform  shelters,  improvement  to circulating area and parking facility and other passenger amenities. So far, 1337 stations have been identified for development under Amrit Bharat  Station  Scheme  including  157  stations  located  in  the  State  of Uttar  Pradesh.  Presently Phase-I  work  of  105  stations  have  been completed and works have been taken up at 1110 stations. Further,  development  works  at  railway  stations  under  Amrit  Bharat Station  Scheme in  the state of Uttar Pradesh  have been taken up at a good  pace.  Till  now,  phase-I  works  of  20  stations  (Ayodhya  Dham, Balrampur, Bareily City, Bijnor, Fatehabad, Gola Gokarnath, Gomti Nagar, Govardhan, Govindpuri, Hathras City, Idgah Agra Jn., Izzatnagar, Mailani, Pokhrayan, Ramghat Halt, Saharanpur Jn., Siddharth Nagar, Suraimanpur,  Swaminarayan  Chappia,  Ujhani)  in  the  state  of  Uttar Pradesh  have  been  completed  under  this  scheme.  The  works  at  other stations have also been taken up at good pace and progress of some of above stations is as given below: At Modi Nagar station,  work of improvement  to station building, improvement  to  waiting  area  and  toilets,  12m  wide  Foot  Over  Bridge, new platform shelters, have been completed and work of minor finishing items of building, platform surfacing, signage, improvement to circulating area and parking have been taken up. At Sitapur Junction station, work of improvement of old station building, platform flooring,  platform  shelter,  boundary  wall  have  been  completed and works of construction of new station building foundation, Foot Over Bridge,  pay  &use  toilet  renovation,  circulating  area,  parking  etc.  have been taken up.

At  Jaunpur  Junction  station,  structural  work  of  new  station  building, platform shelter and toilet block have been taken up. At Lucknow (Charbagh) station, the structural works of the second entry station building, TTE Running Hostel, Store Depot have been completed and masonry work including other finishing works, concourse, Foot Over Bridge, second entry circulating area, main entry external development and platform no. 10/11 works have been taken up. At  Prayagraj  station,  the  structural  work  of  Rail  Mail  Service  building, parcel  building,  arrival  buildings,  basement  plaza  at  second  entry, Electrical  substation  have  been  completed  and  finishing  work  of  these structures have been taken up. Extension work of Foot Over Bridge no. 2 has  been  completed.  Structural  work  of  second  entry  station  building, work of air concourse and relocated structures have been taken up.

At  Ghaziabad  station,  structural  work  of  station  building  at  main  entry side  and  second  entry  side,  foundation  work  of  Foot  Over  Bridge,  roof plaza,  electrical  substation  at  main  entry  side  and  second  entry  side, Magistrate building, Government Railway Police and Railway Protection Force buildings have been taken up.

The Amrit Bharat Station scheme envisages development of stations on a continuous  basis  with  a  long-term  approach.  It  involves  preparation  of master  plans and their implementation in phases  to  improve the amenities at the stations like improvement of station access, circulating areas, waiting halls, toilets, lift/escalators as necessary, platform surfacing and cover over platform, cleanliness, free Wi-Fi, kiosks for local products through schemes  like 'One Station One Product', better passenger information systems, executive lounges, nominated spaces for business  meetings,  landscaping,  etc.  keeping  in  view  the  necessity  at each station. The  scheme  also  envisages  improvement  of  building,  integrating  the station with both sides of the city, multimodal integration, amenities for Divyangjans, sustainable and environment friendly solutions, provision of ballastless  tracks,  etc.  as  per  necessity,  phasing  and  feasibility  and creation of city centre at the station in the long term. Development/upgradation of stations on Indian Railways is a continuous and  ongoing  process  and  works  in  this  regard  are  undertaken  as  per requirement,  subject  to  inter-se  priority  and  availability  of  funds.  The priority  for  development/upgradation  of  stations  is  accorded  to  higher category of station over lower category of station while sanctioning and executing the works. At Kharkhoda station, the work of provision of one additional high level platform along with raising of existing platform has been completed and the work for provision of foot over bridge has been taken up. Development  /  upgradation  of  stations  including  under  Amrit  Bharat Station  Scheme  is  generally  funded  under  Plan  Head-53  'Customer Amenities'. The details of allocation under Plan Head-53 are maintained Zonal  Railway-wise  and  not  work-wise  or  station-wise  or  State-wise. Meerut  City  railway  station  falls  under  the  jurisdiction  of  Northern Railway for which a total allocation of Rs 2216 crores (Budget Estimate) has been made for the financial year 2025-26 under Plan Head-53. Further,  development/redevelopment/upgradation  of  Railway  Stations  is complex in nature involving safety of passengers & trains and requires

various  statutory  clearances  such  as  fire  clearance,  heritage,  tree cutting,  airport  clearance  etc.  The  progress  also  gets  affected  due  to brown  field  related  challenges  such  as  shifting  of  utilities,  (involving water/sewage  lines,  optical  fiber  cables,  gas  pipe  lines,  power/signal cables etc.) infringements, operation of trains without hindering passenger  movement,  speed  restrictions  due  to  works  carried  out  in close proximity of high voltage power lines etc. and these factors affect the completion time. Therefore, no time frame can be indicated at this stage. Meerut  is  connected  to  Hapur  by  14  trains  services  whereas  Hapur  is connected to Bijnor by 4 train services. Passengers of Meerut desirous to

go to Bijnor may avail changeover at Hapur station.

Further, Final Location Survey of Meerut-Hastinapur-Bijnor (63.5 Km) new line  has  been  sanctioned  for  preparation  of  Detailed  Project  Report (DPR). After firming up of Detailed Project Report (DPR), sanctioning of project requires consultation with various stake-holders including State Governments  and  necessary  approvals  viz.  appraisal  of  NITI  Aayog, Ministry of Finance etc. As sanctioning of projects is a continuous and dynamic process, exact timelines cannot be fixed.

Railway projects are sanctioned on the basis of remunerativeness, traffic projections,  last  mile  connectivity,  missing  links  and  alternate  routes, augmentation  of  congested/saturated  lines,  demands  raised  by  State Governments,  Central  Ministries,  Members  of  Parliament,  other  public representatives, Railway's own operational requirement, socio-economic considerations  etc.  depending  upon  throwforward  of  ongoing  projects and overall availability of funds.

Indian Railways makes all possible efforts to run trains on time. Several factors affect punctual running of trains which include path constraints, asset failures, alarm chain pulling, agitations, cattle run over and other unforeseen  circumstances.  Based  on  assessments  of  factors  impeding the punctual running of trains, remedial measures, both short term and long term, are initiated. At present, Meerut-Mathura sector is being served by 20 train services. Similarly, Hapur-Mathura sector is being served by 02 train services and Meerut-Hapur  sector  is  served  by  14  train  services.  Moreover,  MeerutKhurja sector is  served by 08 train services including daily services of 54401/02  Khurja-Meerut  City  Passenger,  54405/06  Khurja-Meerut  City Passenger  and  14163/64  Subedarganj-Meerut  City  Sangam  Express. Besides, introduction of new trains and increase in frequency of existing train  services  are  on-going  processes  on  Indian  Railways  subject  to traffic justification, operational feasibility etc.

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