Government unveils first phase of Station Redevelopment Programme

February 10, 2017

Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu unveiled the first phase of the ambitious Station Redevelopment Programme. It is the world’s largest transit-oriented development programme ever executed.
As part this programme, tenders are being floated for 23 of a total of the total 400 A1 and A category stations selected re-developing in the first phase.
Stations being modernised in 1st phase: Lokmanya Tilak, Pune, Visakhapatnam, Thane,Howrah, Faridabad, Jammu Tawi, Kamakhya, Secunderabad, Udaipur City, Vijaywada, Chennai Central, Ranchi, Kozhikode, Bangalore Cantt, Yesvantpur, Bhopal, Mumbai Central, Bandra Terminus, Borivali and Indore.
Key Facts

Station Redevelopment Programme is the biggest non-fare revenue generating programme being undertaken by Indian Railways.
Financial Model of the programme: It will be executed in a public-private-partnership (PPP) model through a fair bidding system.
Government will not incur any expenditure as the developer will be rebuilding the railway stations and maintaining it for 15 years.
In return, the developer would be granted 45 years’ leasing rights for the commercial properties developed at these stations. These properties could be hotels, malls, hospitals, among others.
Selection Process: These stations will be awarded to private developers under the so-called Swiss challenge method. It involves inviting proposal online and allowing rival bidders to beat that proposal.
Amenities at Revamped stations: escalators, elevators, digital signage, self-ticketing counters, executive lounges, walkways, luggage screening machines, free and paid WiFi, etc.
Commercial potential of the vacant Railway land at and near the stations will be leveraged to develop world-class stations.

Significance
The entire programme is estimated to attract investment of upto Rs 1 lakh crore from the developers. It will help Railways will generate a surplus of Rs 10,000 crore which can be invested in other modernisation programmes. Most of the pension funds in the world and a multilateral agency like World Bank are keen to participate in this project. It will benefit more than 100 cities and 16 million passengers per day across the country.

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