Southern Railway’s Ernakulam Town railway station building proposed to be developed as a “Green Building”

Ernakulam Town Railway station (also known as Ernakulam North Station) is the o­ne of the busiest railway junction stations in South India. Southern Railway has taken up the redevelopment of this station so as to offer modern infrastructure and airport-like facilities for the passengers.

More Details:

  • Tender was awarded for the redevelopment work in August 2022 and now the preliminary work has begun and progressing at a steady pace.
  • Ernakulam Town railway station is located at a distance of 3 Km from Ernakulam Junction and handles more than 90 scheduled daily train services.

Works Executed So Far:

  • Social Forestry department clearance obtained
  • Topographic survey and Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) utility survey completed.
  • Drone survey and videography completed.
  • Soil investigation completed at six locations
  • The temporary works for shifting of offices and facilities are in progress
  • Existing quarters were vacated and alternate accommodation arranged for residents. Work of dismantling the quarters is in progress.
  • Work for provision of  temporary accommodation of Railway offices, Parcel office and Dy. SP offices are in progress. 
  • Work o­n the Optical Fibre Cables (OFC) repeater room is in progress.
  • Temporary shifting work of existing indoor transformers and Panels available in substation building is in progress.

Ernakulam Town:

  • The station is categorised as “NSG-3” station and registers an annual passenger footfall of 1.02 Crore corresponding to an average daily footfall of 28000.
  • Ernakulam Town to Kayankulam railway line throughKottayam district with major stations at Kottayam, Tiruvalla, Chengannur and Mavelikkara. Ernakulam Town  is a convenient station to alight for passengers going to suburbs located in the north of Kochi as well as Kochi Airport.

Award of Contract:

  • The work of “Re-development of Ernakulam Town Railway Station” was awarded as an EPC contract to M/s RANK Projects and Development Pvt Ltd, for an amount of Rs. 150.28 Cr o­n 29.08.2022. The completion period of the project is 36 months.
  • The Project Management Services for the subject work was awarded to M/s Aarvee Associates Pvt.Ltd, Hyderabad for Rs.5.92 Cr. The station building is proposed to be developed as a “green building”, complying with the rating of Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA).

Roadmap for redevelopment:

  • As part of Station redevelopment, the newly constructed West Terminal building will come up in place of the existing building which will be demolished in 3 phases.
  • Existing facilities which are affected in Phase-1 will be shifted to alternate locations in the existing vacant spaces in the station, o­n completion of Phase 1 West Terminal building, Railway Offices will be shifted to the completed building before taking up Phase-2 and Phase-3 works.
  • An air-concourse with Skywalk connectivity, a new Foot Over Bridge and Multi-level Car Parking are also proposed to be constructed.

Western Terminal:

  • The West Terminal building, in the place of the existing building, is proposed to be built as a three-storey structure, with a mezzanine floor, consisting of a total built up area of 14,506 sq.m (excluding concourse area).
  • The ground floor is planned to facilitate hassle-free movement of passengers with provision of dedicated arrival and departure corridors and will have world-class passenger amenities such as toilets, cloak room, baby care, feeding room, help desk, commercial outlets and kiosk.
  • The first floor will accommodate waiting lounges for passengers with facilities like restaurants, retail outlets and toilets.
  • The main feature of the floor is the air concourse to help the passengers move to their respective platforms with the convenience of newly provided escalators and lifts, 3.0m and 3.50m wide skywalk connecting west terminal building to existing Metro Foot Over Bridge o­n the western side and the proposed new Foot Over Bridge respectively.

Multi-level Car Parking:

  • A Multi-Level Car Parking (MLCP) is proposed in the existing staff quarters location, which will be a G+6 structure having a total built-up area of 9940 sqm with Electric Vehicle charging facility. This parking facility will have capacity to accommodate  218 cars and 22 Two-wheelers.

New Staff Quarters:

  • The staff quarters available in the proposed location of MLCP are vacated and demolition of the structure is in progress. In order to provide alternative accommodation, Residential tower G+3 with Type II 20 units is proposed in Ernakulam North colony. Foundation of the structure is planned to be for G+8, for vertical future expansion.

Source: Southern Railway- Press Release | Images Credit: Southern Railway