Four platforms at Ahmedabad’s Kalupur railway station that were closed for the bullet train and station redevelopment work may reopen before Diwali, improving the station’s capacity to handle the seasonal rise in passenger traffic. Railway authorities have begun checks of the tracks, overhead equipment and signalling systems before train operations can resume.
Platforms 9 to 12 have remained unavailable while work linked to the station redevelopment project has progressed. The latest target is to restart all four platforms before the Diwali festival, when passenger numbers are expected to increase. The reopening would provide additional operating space at one of Ahmedabad’s key railway stations and help manage the extra crowd during the holiday period.
The target follows earlier deadlines that were not met. Platform reopening had previously been announced for April and was later pushed to August. According to the report, technical reasons delayed the work, leading the railway to set a new objective of completing the process before Diwali.
The four platforms are not at the same stage of readiness. Platforms 10, 11 and 12 have been converted from metre gauge to broad gauge. Before passenger train operations can begin on these platforms, an inspection by the Commissioner of Railway Safety, or CRS, is required. The platforms can be brought into service only after the inspection and the necessary approvals are completed.
Platform 9 also faces a separate operational constraint. A block on the platform is expected to be removed as part of the preparation for reopening. The report does not specify the nature of the block or provide a confirmed date for its removal, leaving the final operational schedule dependent on the remaining work and clearances.
Once platforms 9 to 12 are available, the railway plans to take a block on platforms 4 to 7 to create working space for the next phase of the station-related work. Train operations will be adjusted after the additional platforms are commissioned, allowing construction activity to continue without removing all available platforms from service at the same time.
The reopening is therefore linked both to passenger management and to the sequencing of the redevelopment project. The immediate milestones are the completion of technical checks, removal of the block on platform 9, the CRS inspection for the converted broad-gauge platforms and the grant of required approvals. The railway’s pre-Diwali target remains subject to these steps.
