India's Railway Stations Set For Transformation
By A Draft Correspondent
On 28 September 2022, the Cabinet approved redevelopment of New Delhi, Ahmedabad and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), Mumbai Railway Stations. Chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Union Cabinet has approved Indian Railways’ proposal for redevelopment of New Delhi Railway Station, Ahmedabad Railway Station and Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) with an approximate total investment of nearly ₹10,000 Cr.
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| A projection illustration of Mumbai's CSMT |
Every station will have a spacious roof plaza (36/72/108 m) with all passenger amenities at one place along with spaces for retail, cafeterias, recreational facilities. Both sides of the city will be connected with the station, with the station building on both sides of the railway tracks.
Facilities like a Food Court, a Waiting Lounge, Playing Area for children, place for local products, etc., will be made available. The stations located within the city will have a City Center like place. To make the stations comfortable, there will be proper illumination, way-finding signages, acoustics, lifts/escalators/travelators.
A Master Plan has been prepared for smooth movement of traffic, with adequate parking facilities. There will be integration with other modes of transportation like metro, bus etc. Green Building Techniques will be used, with solar energy, water conservation/recycling and improved tree cover. Also, special care will be taken to provide Divyang-friendly facilities.
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| A projection illustration of Delhi Railway Station |
These stations will be developed on the concept of intelligent building.There will be segregation of arrival/departures, clutter-free platforms, improved surfaces, fully-covered platforms. The stations will be safe with installation of CCTV and access control. These will be iconic station buildings.
After going for the ‘engineering, procurement and construction’ route to redevelop New Delhi, CST Mumbai and Ahmedabad stations to desist from putting any 'extra burden on passengers,' according to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Indian Railways is looking to go back to its public private partnership (PPP) plan for upgrading 16 stations, including those in Anand Vihar, Nizamuddin, Old Delhi, Vijayawada, Dadar and Kalyan, Pune, Coimbatore, Bangalore City, Baroda, Bhopal and Chennai Central, that have been identified for revamp in this phase. Several of these stations have been on the redevelopment plan for quite a few years.
The bid value of these 16 stations is expected to be over Rs 10,000 crore with real estate players seen to be among interested players. The railway is going for both ‘engineering, procurement and construction’ (EPC) route, where the government funds the entire project cost, and the PPP for redevelopment of 200 stations considering the viability of projects.
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| A projection illustration of Ahmedabad Railway Station |
Even in the case of railway stations identified for redevelopment under PPP, the railways won’t levy any additional user charge or station development fee on passengers as the private investors would be able to recover their full investment amount.
Under the EPC mode, the tendering process for 47 railway stations has been completed and physical work has started at 32 railway stations, said railway minister Mr Vaishnaw, adding "the new model for station redevelopment would focus on vertical growth and using the open space over the platforms and stations located in congested areas." He had said ‘Roof Plazas’ built in this space will have facilities including Waiting Lounges, Food Courts, Retail Zones even Play Area for children.
