India's first elevated railway station is ready in Haryana's Kurukshetra district. Named Thanesar City, the station has been built entirely on an elevated track, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate it on July 17. A new line has already been laid on the elevated track, and a trial run of a train has been completed successfully. Once operational, the station is expected to end years of traffic congestion in the city.
What facilities does the new station offer
The station has been built with modern amenities including a ticket counter, waiting hall, seating arrangements, lifts, escalators, clean drinking water and toilets. Entry has been provided from two sides of the station, though it has only a single platform. Notably, the new Thanesar City station stands just 500 metres from the historic Brahma Sarovar.
Built like a metro, Haryana's second elevated track after Rohtak
The Kurukshetra elevated track is only the second such track in Haryana. Earlier, an elevated railway track was built in Rohtak city to ease traffic on the Rohtak-Gohana-Panipat route, and it was the country's first railway elevated track built on the lines of a metro. That Rohtak track was built at a cost of around Rs 315 crore to eliminate jams caused by four railway crossings in the city. Now, Kurukshetra too has a railway station built just like a metro station, which makes it distinct from an ordinary railway station.
Why Kurukshetra junction matters
Kurukshetra is an important railway junction in Haryana, with the station code KKDE. It falls on the Ambala-Delhi railway line and links Punjab with Jammu and Kashmir. Trains headed to Mata Vaishno Devi Katra also run on this very route. The Narwana-Kurukshetra rail line also branches off from this junction, passing through the Thanesar area.
Five level crossings used to cause the jams
The Narwana-Kurukshetra line has five railway crossings in Thanesar. Whenever a train passed through, all the crossing gates would be shut, leading to long traffic jams across the area. To fix this recurring problem, a 5.8 kilometre long elevated corridor was planned. The entire track has been built at a cost of around Rs 341 crore.
How the single-track corridor was built
The total length of the Kurukshetra elevated railway track is 5.8 kilometres. It has been built by the Haryana Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited in cooperation with the Railway Ministry. This single track has been laid on the Narwana-Kurukshetra rail line and runs right through the middle of the city, built alongside the existing railway line that passes through the city so the new structure could come up without disturbing the old line.
Relief for commuters travelling from Punjab to Uttar Pradesh
Once this elevated track becomes fully operational, commuters travelling between Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh will get major relief from the jams caused by closed crossing gates. The project is being seen as Kurukshetra's biggest dream project yet, and it is now on the verge of completion.
