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Thanks very much Bikash Dash for the pointer to http://wiki.iricen.gov.in/doku/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=9209%3Aabkhare.pdf. The solution presented there to expand the current Bhubaneswar station to 10 platforms is very good. Since the expansion of existing Bhubaneswar station is deemed economically feasible, they should just go ahead with that immediately (asap) and at the same time start acquiring land in the New Barang location so that a large station can come up there in 10-15 years when that will be needed.

Following are some pictures from the above mentioned slide sets.

The main hurdle with respect to the above plan is the private land that is marked as "to be acquired". That part is shown in red in the map below.

I hope that hurdle is overcome and the expansion gets going asap. If there is trouble then a simple alternative is to move the commercial part to the area marked in green (in the map below) and make the parking area marked in orange a multi-level one with the underground part going under the Janpath to the commercial complex marked in green.

Since the land marked in green is government land this would not cause a lot of trouble and as mentioned before it will connect the station complex with the IG park, Secretariate, Assembly, and Rabindra mandap. In the future there may be a Las Vegas style monorail connecting all these parts. (Note that this plan will not affect the existing coaching yard much. That money can be used in making the underground path connecting the green part and the orange part.)

But in 10-15 years the ten platforms will not be enough; especially when there will be many suburban routes with more frequent trains. Examples of such lines:

• Bhubaneswar-Puri-Konark (Puri-Konark extension is expected)
• Bhubaneswar-Berhampur-Gopalpur (Berhampur-Gopalpur extension is expected; post connectivity)
• Bhubaneswar-Khurda Rd-Nayagarh (part of Khurda-Balangir line)
• Bhubaneswar-Talcher
• Bhubaneswar-Rajathgarh-Tangi
• Bhubaneswar-Bhadrak
• Bhubaneswar-Paradeep
• Bhubaneswar-Barang-Astaranga (new port connectivity)
• Bhubaneswar-Puri-Baliharchandi (new port connectivity)
• Bhubaneswar-Jakhapura-Sukinda

So the alternative plan of a major station near Barang should also proceed but with a slower speed. Especially the land should be acquired asap before the prices become very high.

Update: Thanks very much Bikash Dash for the pointer to http://wiki.iricen.gov.in/doku/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=9209%3Aabkhare.pdf. The solution presented there is good enough. My only comment would be that since the expansion of existing Bhubaneswar station is economically feasible, they should just go ahead with that immediately (asap) and at the same time start acquiring land in the New Barang location so that a large station can come up there in 10-15 years when that will be needed.

The Bhubaneswar railway station currently has only FOUR platforms. That is too little for the volume of trains and passengers it caters to and will cater to in the future. Besides being on the main Howrah-Chennai line and the ECOR headquarter, with the Bhubaneswar metro area growing and many new lines in the anvil (Khurda-Balangir, possible new line to Astarang to serve the proposed port there, Khurda Rd To Rajahthagarh completing a circuit)  there will soon  be need for many local train circuits with more frequent trains.

All this means that even if a new station near Barang (15-16 kms from Bhubaneswar) is constructed with enough platforms, because of the central location of the Bhubaneswar station, the later needs to be expanded with additional platforms.

But there is no horizontal available land in parallel to the exisiting platforms.

I envision two possible solutions:

(i) Going vertical and creating another layer of platforms either under or above the existing platforms. But that would add may be another 4 platforms.

(ii) Another possibility is to go under and create a terminus under the area marked in blue in the pictures below. All those land is owned by the Odisha government. So land acquisition is not a problem.

As can be seen from the pictures above one can add 8+ more platforms perpendicular to the existing 4 platforms. All this can be done in a PPP mode with making good use of shopping, pedestrian plaza and surface transport center all in the ground level and higher and stretching all the way up to the Indira Gandhi park and the Assembly Hall, Secretariat, Rabindra Mandap etc.

The new platforms could mostly be used for trains origniating and terminating at Bhubaneswar; thus  not hampering the stopping times of thorough trains which would  need an engine direction change if they go to the new platforms.