Dehradun Railway Station To Be Shut For Renovations

While airline updates are closely monitored to keep a track of international travel, it is important to note that a larger percentage of domestic travel involves the railways. This is especially true for various hilly areas in the country. In a bid to increase efficiency and capacity, Indian Railways has announced renovation work on Dehradun Railway Station. The work is said to take approximately 90 days and so, the station will be shut from November 10, 2019 to February 7, 2020. The renovation work is aimed to allow bigger trains with more coaches to stop at Dehradun and overall increase capacity in the long run. 

Many trains have also been cancelled for this period of time. This includes the Dehradun-New Delhi Shatabdi Express and the Nanda Devi Express will run only up till Haridwar. About 18 trains are known to be cancelled.

The tourism industry of the capital of Uttarakhand and concerned with the effect this move will have on the visitor count. According to a report by The Times of India, president of Hotel and Restaurant Association Sandeep Sahni said, &ldquoUsually tourists come to the state capital, spend a day or two here, and then go to hill stations like Mussoorie, Dhanaulti and Chakrata. But now, Dehradun is likely to witness a dip in the tourist footfall&rdquo. Many taxi drivers are also concerned about the decrease in the number of tourists at this time of the year, which often sees tourists for a short amount of days. They predict a decline in profits, owing to the cancellation of train services.

On the other hand, station superintendent of Dehradun Railway station, Sitaram Sonkar maintained that the work done during renovation will allow bigger trains to halt at the station, the ones that were unable to stop earlier due to the size of the station. He also believed that the station will recoup lost profits once the train service commences.