Railway Ministry includes Udupi station under Amrit Bharat Station Scheme for redevelopment

• The Udupi station under Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd. (KRCL) network that was in dire need of attention
• It has been included in the Railway Ministry’s Amrit Bharat Station Scheme (ABSS) for redevelopment.

Key Highlights

• The Ministry informed KRCL about the inclusion of Udupi.
• None of the KRCL stations were included under ABSS when it was initially announced in February 2023 in the Union Budget, covering 1,275 stations of the Indian Railway network.
• It was because KRCL continued to remain a public sector undertaking under the Railway Ministry and was not an integral part of the Indian Railways.
• The non-inclusion caused much heartburn among railway patrons on the west coast — Maharashtra, Goa, and Karnataka
  • Who chided the Ministry for leaving out the network from the scheme that was launched to mark 75 years of India’s independence.
• The scheme involved creating master plans for redevelopment and executing them in a phased manner.
• The redevelopment broadly includes platform improvement with covered shelters, covered foot overbridge, improved circulating and vehicle parking areas

Prelims Takeaway

• Amrit Bharat Station Scheme
• Konkan Railway Corporation Ltd. .