The Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) has finished the construction of two new platforms at the New Jalpaiguri (NJP) station, officials said on Tuesday.
With this, the number of broad-gauge platforms has increased to eight at NJP, the largest and busiest station in north Bengal.
So far, there had been six platforms and a separate platform — a smaller one — for the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway toy train.
“This passenger-oriented initiative marks a significant upgrade in station infrastructure and is aimed at enhancing amenities, ensuring smoother boarding and de-boarding, improving operational efficiency, and facilitating better handling of the increasing number of long-distance train services at this vital station,” said K.K. Sharma, the chief public relations officer (CPRO) of the NFR.
He said with the completion of work on the two new platforms, which are on the main entrance side of the NJP, those were named platforms one and two. “The existing platforms have been systematically renumbered up to platform number eight,” Sharma added.
NFR sources said the earlier platforms had been realigned. For example, platform number 1A has been renamed as platform number 3, platform 1 as platform 4, and platform 2 as platform 5.
“The revised platform arrangement is expected to improve train regulation, passenger movement, and overall safety at NJP,” said the CPRO.