As announced by Indian Railways, train services to and from Dehradun railway station is going to be shut for three months starting 10th November due to renovation work being undertaken at the station, the move is expected to not only inconvenience people but may also slow down the state’s travel and tourism.
This makes clear that no train will be stopping at Dehradun till 7th February — this includes the Jan Shatabdi Express, Mussoorie Express and Nanda Devi Express.
President of Hotel and Restaurant Association of Uttarakhand Sandeep Sahni said “Usually tourists come to the state capital, spend a day or two here, and then go to hill stations like Mussoorie,Dhanaulti and Chakrata. But now, Dehradun is likely to witness a dip in tourist footfall.” He added that “halting train movement for such a long period will hit the state’s economy badly.” “We understand that the project will be beneficial for the state in the long-term, but undertaking the project during this time of the year could have been avoided,” he further added.
Dehradun the state capital of Uttarakhand, situated 236 km north of New Delhi serves as an entrance to the remarkable hill station of Mussoorie and Haridwar and Rishikesh, the famous pilgrimage sites.
As a part of this move, some trains have been cancelled while a few like the Dehradun-New Delhi Shatbadi Express will originate and terminate at Haridwar.
It will also badly affect the local taxi operators in their business. Now the tourists will hire taxis from Haridwar, as aconsequence of which, private transport services in Dehradun are likely to suffer huge revenue loss.
Now trains scheduled to stop at Dehradun will stop at Haridwar just before the Dehradun station. Passengers could get off at Haridwar and take a bus or cab to reach Dehradun which is of around 2 hours journey.
The station superintendent at Dehradun railway station, Sitaram Sonkar said that the move to close the station will yield dividends later. “After the renovation, big trains with more coaches will also halt at Dehradun. Earlier, trains with more than 10 to 12 coaches couldn’t halt at the station.”
