Redevelopment of Railway Stations

Indian Railway has advertised its plan to redevelop ‘A-1’ and ‘A’ category stations (about 400 in number) on ‘as is where is’ basis, by inviting proposals from interested parties with their designs and business ideas. These include Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Puri, Bhadrak, Brahmapur, Cuttack, Jajpur-Keonjhar Road, Khurda Road, Palasa, Rayagada, Sambalpur, Srikakulam Road and Vizianagaram stations on East Coast Railway. The entire cost of station redevelopment is to be met by leveraging commercial development of land and air space in and around the stations. 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 e.g. Bus, Metro, etc., user friendly international signage, well illuminated circulating area and sufficient provision for drop off, pick up & parking etc. Station redevelopment projects are complex in nature and require detailed techno-economic feasibility studies and statutory clearances from local bodies. Therefore, no time frame can be indicated, at this stage. This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 11.03.2016 (Friday).