Jaipur, Dec. 28 (TNS): After a break of two years, wheels are turning again in Indian state of Rajasthan’s Rashidpura Khori, one of the most unique railway stations in India.
The station in Sikar district is as nondescript as hundreds that dot the nearly 120,000 km rail track network across the country, but it is run and maintained solely by villagers and not railway staff.
India has a number of low-traffic stations where railways has outsourced ticket sales to individuals and does not depute staff, but officials of North Western Railway zone believe their Rashidpura Khori stands apart for its of the people, by the people initiative.
“I am not aware of any other station that is being run by such participation of people,” says Tarun Jain, chief public relations officer of North Western Railway.
Top railway officials in Delhi did not commit on record to this uniqueness, but said it was likely Rashidpura Khori was one of a kind.
On December 9, a passenger train rolled into Rashidpura Khori, about 125 km north of Jaipur, and rail operations resumed after being stopped in November 2015 for work to broad gauge the track.
Almost 90 years old, the station has had a stop-start history. Railways stopped operations at the British-era station — dating back to 1929, when it was part of princely Jaipur state — in May 2005 as it was deemed commercially unviable.
