To breathe life into the buildings that will form HSR stations, the design of each of the 12 stations on the MAHSR line will reflect the spirit of the city it is coming up in. This will bring about an instant connection with the local populace, and promote a sense of ownership of the high-speed system.
From an architectural point of view, it is simple to make a modern-looking structure. But, to establish a connect with the local environment, the idea was to pick some elements of the city that locals are proud of and then build the concept on those elements. The stations are conceived as a gateway to a modern way of living.
The HSR station buildings will be modern, with use of materials like translucent glass, but with some reflection of the city to make people relate to them. For instance, Surat is known as the diamond city, so the HSR station building has the diamond shape in the elevation and ceilings.
The Sabarmati station is inspired by the river Sabarmati, and the elevation has waves to represent water. The spikes of the Ashoka chakra will also be seen in the design. Ahmedabad architecture is famous for Syed Siddique's iconic jaali, which represents the tree of life. The jaali is being recreated in the facade of the Ahmedabad HSR station building.
The inside of the station area has an intuitive design, where passengers are guided towards the platform and all functions, such as security, ticketing, etc happen during the course of this movement.
A uniform style has been maintained at all the stations to ensure that passengers using the system get exactly the same feel at all stations.
All the stations will meet international standards in functionality and operations and will have soothing colours and all basic amenities like signages, seating arrangements in waiting areas, lounges, kiosks, etc. Effort has been made to keep the location of the stations inside the limits of the cities, and connected to other modes of transport like railways, city buses, Metro lines, and parking facilities, etc.
High-speed trains will see longer travel times so care has been taken to provide good restrooms, next to which will be nurseries for children. The stations will also have lockers to store baggage for those doing day trip to cities, which a high-speed train system will offer. The stations will also have business lounges for first class passengers.
The stations will have an inclusive design for Divyang (differently-abled) passengers. A wheelchair-friendly design, lowered ticketing counters with braille instructions, tiles on the floor for guidance, dedicated washrooms, braille buttons inside elevators are some of the features.
Each of the HSR stations are being envisaged to be destinations in themselves. To harness the true potential of improved connectivity with the construction of a high-speed connection, the areas around the stations will be designed as hubs. The idea is to promote existing industries in the city and its surroundings and also build new industrial centres so as to improve the overall standard of living of the local community.
For this, NHSRCL is liaising with various stakeholders including National government, State governments and the local authorities, and two stations each in Gujarat and Maharashtra will be developed by Japanese experts as model stations. These are Virar and Thane stations in Maharashtra and Sabarmati and Surat stations in Gujarat.
To aid this process of economic and social development along the MAHSR corridor through a process of Transit Oriented Development (TOD) around the HSR stations, a Station Area Development Executive Committee (SADEC) has been formed. The committee has representatives from State governments, NITI Aayog, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, NHSRCL along with experts from Japan's JICA, MLIT, JR East and Urban Renaissance.
All the HSR station buildings are coming up as 'green' buildings. This means that they will have elements of sustainability featured right in the design, that includes water efficient fixtures, green-pro products for construction, energy efficient light fittings, and multimodal integration with other transport modes, both existing and proposed.
Passive energy-saving measures and active ecological energy will be incorporated in the designs to help reduce the energy consumption of the buildings. All the HSR stations will be equipped with and oriented to benefit from the ecological sustainability of the station buildings.
Where ever feasible, integrated solar panels are being provided in the roof to minimise energy consumption. Elements such as big windows to allow natural light in addition to a view of the outside and proper ventilation will further bring down energy bills. Rainwater harvesting and water rejuvenation pits will be a vital design element for all buildings constructed as part of the MAHSR corridor.
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