Indian Railways has identified 12 more stations where it has planned to separate arrival and departure area and will commercially exploit the land nearby to fund the redevelopment of the station. The Indian Railway Station Development Corporation (IRSDC), which is working on the station redevelopment, will invest Rs 7500 crore for 50 stations in 2019.
IRSDC has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) with IRCON for redevelopment of 12 railway stations including Ghaziabad, Yeshvantpur, Karnal and Thiruvananthapuram Central.
“Ministry of Railways through various agencies is undertaking techno-economic feasibility studies of Railway stations. Based on the outcome of these feasibility studies, stations are planned to be taken up for redevelopment in phases, especially the stations located in major cities, pilgrimage centres and important tourist destinations. The cost of station redevelopment project is to be met by leveraging commercial development of land and air space in and around the stations. The railway stations are taken up for redevelopment based on financial viability,” the Railway Minister had informed Parliament in the last session.
The facilities proposed in a redeveloped station include congestion free non-conflicting entry/exit to the station premises, segregation of arrival/departure of passengers, adequate concourse without overcrowding, integration of both sides of the city wherever feasible, integration with other modes of transport systems such as buses.
IRSDC, which is the nodal agency for redevelopment of railway stations in India, plans to scale up the program and will initially develop approximately 50 stations through public private partnership which will require initial capital investments of Rs 7500 crore. IRSDC has recently awarded work for 43 stations.
As per IRSDC’s business model, the station redevelopment is to be funded by commercial exploitation of air space above stations and adjoining railway land.
Also, work of redevelopment of four stations – Gandhinagar, Habibganj, Charbagh and Gomtinagar has already been started by Indian Railways. The Gandhinagar station project is in an advanced stage of completion and Habibganj station project which is the 1st project of station redevelopment on PPP mode is also progressing well and will be completed soon.
The Railway ministry has already decided to allow residential and other commercial structures be it hotels or hospitals on the railway land near the station. Under the redevelopment plan on PPP mode, the railways will give the land for the lease of 99 years and the private party will be allowed to exploit it for commercial purpose.
The Railways said that capital cities and those with tourist destinations will be considered initially for redevelopment and the decision to build a commercial facility will be of the private player.
Initially, the lease was for 45 years, which the railways have extended upto 99 years.
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