SER to transform Santragachhi Station into terminal unit

Kolkata: South Eastern Railway (SER) has taken up a major scheme to revamp Santragachhi Railway Station and make it a terminal station.

The purpose of the project is to free Howrah Station under Eastern Railway from congestion, and facilitate smooth flow of traffic.

The project includes construction of a six-storey steel-intensive Administrative Building, a new island platform and two foot over-bridges (FOBs). The FOBs are being constructed to connect the Administrative Building with the existing platform no. 1 and to the new island platform.

The estimated cost of the project is approximately Rs 150 crore. It is expected to be completed by March 2019.

A total of 8,000 tonne of steel has been procured from Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), which includes Plates, Structurals (including Narrow Parallel Flange sections branded as SAIL NEX), and seismic-grade TMT Bars — supplied by, respectively,the newly-commissioned Plate Mill of SAIL's Rourkela Steel Plant, and the state-of-the-art new rolling mills at ISP, Burnpur and DSP, Durgapur.

In construction, the steel-intensive structures have intrinsic advantages by being (a) lighter in weight as compared to other concrete structures and (b) not expanding or contracting with changes in ambient temperature. The construction time also gets minimised, resulting in lowering of project cost. The steel-intensive structures can also be used for different functional and customised requirements with regard to durability, safety and longevity.

While the project is being implemented under the aegis of M/s IRCON, consultancy for the same is being provided by STUP Consultants. The responsibility of executing the project has been given to Bridge & Roof Co (I) Limited. Incidentally, SAIL has been the largest supplier of steel to Bridge & Roof Co (I) Ltd for its various projects across

the country.