Railways to redevelop 400 world class stations

The Dollar Business Bureau

Indian Railways on Thursday launched an ambitious redevelopment project of Rs.450-crore at Habibganj railway station near Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh through PPP (Public-Private Partnership) route with a double target of offering world-class facilities to passengers and creating revenue for the state-run transporter.

“Till date, Indian Railways was depending on passenger fares and freight for revenues. But now, time has come to go beyond this revenue source. The redevelopment of stations is one such source for revenue," said Suresh Prabhu, Minister for Railways at an event to mark the signing of agreement with the project developer.

A consortium of developer Bansal Construction Works Pvt Ltd and Prakash Asphalting’s & Toll Highways Ltd (PATH) has formed Bansal Pathways Habibagnj Pvt Ltd - a special purpose firm for implementing the project.

According to the deal signed between the developer and Indian Railway Station Development Corporation (IRSDC), the former will offer modern facilities such as lifts, escalators, concourse, parking lot, walkway, landscaping, travelators, subways, parcel corridor, as part of the station redevelopment.

In addition, the station will include medical clinics, food plaza, office complex, salon and various other facilities to use the premises to generate earnings for the railways.

The Railway Minister said that the plan is to redevelop 400 stations, with a purpose behind it. Besides being a source of revenue for railways, development of station will also give better amenities to the passengers.

Besides Habibganj, Railways will also develop Anand Vihar, Brijwasan, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar, Mohali, Surat and Shivaji Nagar stations.

Prabhu said there are several ways for developing the stations that include taking support of the World Bank (WB), state governments, PSUs and foreign countries.

“We are in discussion with WB for getting $500 million for the development project. We can also tie-up with counties such as the UK, Germany, and France which have experience and expertise in redevelopment and to modernise some stations in India. I am also writing to chief ministers of all the states to take part in the station redevelopment project in their states,” he said.