New Delhi Railway Station Shutting Down For Renovation? Railway Ministry Clarifies

The Ministry of Railways issued a clarification on Monday, May 28, clearing the air that New Delhi Railway Station will not show down by the end of this year for redevelopment.

This comes after some media outlets claimed that the station was “scheduled to close temporarily due to redevelopment” as part of a renovation plan.

“It is to announce that New Delhi Railway Station will never be shut down. It may be noted that when a railway station undergoes redevelopment, a few trains are diverted/regulated as per requirements. Information about such diversions/regulations of trains is notified well in advance,” a statement from the Ministry of Railways read.

The reports also reported that the plan to relocate diverted/regulated trains to nearby railway stations, including Anand Vihar, Delhi Cantt, Hazrat Nizamuddin, and Sarai Rohilla, was already in place.

Chief Public Relations Officer, Northern Railway, Deepak Kumar, told news agency PTI that such reports are misleading and cause unnecessary confusion among common people.

In 2023, the Railway Ministry launched the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme (ABSS) to transform several colonial-era railway stations across the country into city centres. Several stations are undergoing major transformations under the Union government’s scheme with the aim of reshaping the city-station relationship by developing or redeveloping 1,318 railway stations nationwide.

The list of stations for redevelopment in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) include New Delhi, Anand Vihar, Delhi Cantonment, Ghaziabad, Gurugram, and Faridabad.

Meanwhile, the ministry of railways shared some photos of the proposed futuristic, dome-shaped, glass building of the New Delhi Railway Station on X (formerly known as Twitter) in September 2022. The redevelopment aims to transform the station into a modern travel hub with improved amenities.

The proposed plan will have a 40-storey twin tower, pick-up and drop zones, and multi-level car parking at the station. The twin tower will house retail shops, offices, and a space for a hotel.

In addition to that, 1,500 Equivalent Car Space (ECS) parking spaces, 91 bus bays, and skywalks for pedestrians and metro passengers will be constructed on site. The built-up area will be about 2.22 lakh square metres, out of which 45,000 square metres will be the railway office, reported Hindustan Times.