Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/railways/railways-likely-to-award-40-stations-for-overhaul-in-fy23/articleshow/90649960.cms
Publisher: ET
The Indian Railways intends to award around 40 stations for redevelopment in 2022-23.
According to senior officials in the know, 32 will be redeveloped by the different zones of the Indian Railways while eight will be done by the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA).
“It is a dynamic process and the number of stations to be redeveloped in 2022-23 has not been finalised. There will not be a one-size-fits-all approach as well and tender requirements will be tweaked as per local requirements of the railway station,” a railway ministry official told ET.
Work is already underway at the Ayodhya (UP), Bijwasan (Delhi), Safdarjung (Delhi), and Gomtinagar (UP) railway stations. Tendering is on for Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh), Udhna (Gujarat), and Gaya (Bihar) by the zonal railways. The tender for redeveloping the Somnath railway station (Gujarat) has been called by the RLDA.
“It is aimed to begin on-ground work at around 30-40 stations during the current fiscal,” the official added.
Among other facilities, these stations will have wide departure concourses and retail shops and all platforms will be accessible from a single point.
Responding to queries in the Lok Sabha, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that Rani Kamlapati and Gandhinagar railway stations have been developed and commissioned under the new station redevelopment programme. The Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal in Bengaluru is ready for commissioning.
This is in addition to the 1,253 railway stations that have been identified for development under the Adarsh Station Scheme. Out of these, 1,213 railway stations have been developed and the remaining 40 stations are targeted for development in 2022-23, Vaishnaw had said.
The railway station development programme of the current government had taken a hit when the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC) was abruptly shut down in October 2021. The nine-year-old special purpose vehicle was a joint venture between RLDA and IRCON.
At the time of being shut down, IRSDC was working on around 60 railway stations.
These were handed back to the zonal railways, setting back the process of station modernisation by a few months.
