Travellers are likely to be inconvenienced in a major part of Uttarakhand as train services to and from Dehradun railway station will be halted from November 10, for three months for remodelling of the station. According to railway officials, a few trains will be cancelled and others will originate and terminate from different railway stations, including Haridwar, Saharanpur, Najibabad and Aligarh during the three months. This will cause inconvenience to people, who will have to ply via road from Dehradun to the nearest operational railway station. Dehradun railway station superintendent S D Dobhal told The Indian Express that remodelling will be done to improve train services in future. He said that the station at present has four platforms and only one of them—platform number-3— has the required area to station 18-coach trains like Shatabdi. “Only 13-coach trains are stationed at the other three platforms. Area of these three platforms would be extended and a new platform would be developed to accommodate bigger trains of 18-coaches,” Dobhal said. As Dehradun station will be shut from November 10, two Delhi-bound trains — Shatabdi and Nanda Devi — will originate and terminate at Harrawala, the next station from Dehradun, for 45 days. After that, both trains will operate from Haridwar till yard remodelling work is completed. Passengers will have to travel by road to Haridwar and other stations to board trains. This will either increase transport expenses with private taxi and bus operators or will increase load on government buses.
