New age amenities with a touch of mythology

Ayodhya: Renovated platforms, new signboards, escalators, lifts and murals of Lord Ram painted on the walls – these and more will be the features of the Ayodhya railway station after the ongoing revamp.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the renovated Ayodhya railway station this weekend.

Tourists visiting the temple town ahead of the grand consecration of the Ram temple on January 22 have been stopping at the railway station, and marveling at the ongoing improvement work aimed at giving it the look and feel of a temple.

Prime Minister Modi will reach the temple town on December 30 ahead of the consecration ceremony next month.

Purshottam, a tourist from Delhi, said that while the new railway station is equipped with new-age facilities for the benefit of passengers and visitors, its overall design will also have echoes and influences of Hindu mythology.
He told ANI, “We have come here for the first time. It seems as if we have arrived not at a railway station but at an airport. This station not only has modern facilities but also has a touch of Hindu mythology.”

Sant Ramnarayan Das Ji Maharaj, who visited Ayodhya, also said that the renovated and renovated railway station has the potential to provide top-class services to passengers and visitors.

He said, “It looks very beautiful with the new design. Lord Ram also desired that the station be revamped so well that devotees would not face any problem in coming to the grand temple for the consecration ceremony.”
“Ayodhya is beautiful and people are arriving in the city in large numbers ahead of the consecration ceremony,” said Swami Sai Prasad Saraswati, a saint from Thiruvananthapuram.

The redevelopment is being done in two phases. While the first phase, which is nearing completion, will see the development of platform areas, the second phase will see the construction of a new station building including more toilets, dormitories, ticketing and circulating areas.

Ayodhya District Magistrate, Nitish Kumar, said the movement capacity of the railway station is around 50,000-60,000 people and work on the second phase will begin soon.

“We are renovating the railway station in such a way that it can be made to resemble the facade of the Ram temple. It will also reflect the historical importance of Ayodhya. While it will resemble a temple from outside, it will be equipped with the latest technology for the ease of travelers. It already has a circulation capacity of 50,000-60,000 people and we are only in Phase 1 of the project. Work on the second phase will start soon,” he told ANI.