Railways Float Tenders Worth Over Rs 6,500 Crore For Redevelopment Of 60 Stations

In a bid to upgrade rail premises as world class with improved passenger amenities, the Railways has floated tenders worth over Rs 5,000 crore inviting real estate players to redevelop nearly 60 stations across the country.

While Ayodhya, Brijwasan, Gomti Nagar and Safdarjung are among 22 stations for which work orders have already been awarded, bidding process are in the final stage for awarding contracts for 24 more stations shortly.

The Railways is currently going full throttle with manufacturing of Vande Bharat train and redeveloping stations.

Stations are being selected for redevelopment to cater to the increased foot falls in the coming years and also to provide modern amenities to rail users.

According to the Railways, tenders were floated for redeveloping Tirupati and Gaya stations with an estimated cost of Rs 299.11 crore and Rs 244 crore respectively.

Bids were also invited for Somnath station with an estimated cost of Rs 138.16 crore, Charbagh station in Lucknow for Rs 399.33 crore, Ernakulam station for Rs 299.99 crore, Puri station for Rs 124.87 crore, New Jalpaiguri 287.96 crore, and Kota station for Rs 207.63 crore.

Since places like Puri, Tirupati and Somnath have high pilgrimage attractions, the stations need to be redeveloped in these areas to cater to the growing number of pilgrims.

The Railways has floated tenders worth 426.47 crore for Muzaffranagar station, Sabarmati station for Rs 301.6 crore, Bhubaneswar station for Rs 397.58 crore, Udaipur City station for Rs 304.08 crore, Jaisalmer station for Rs 109.47 crore and Ernakulam station for Rs 150.28 crore.

Stations in Sabarmati, Udaipur and Jaisalmer are being redeveloped with modern amenities to cater to the increased number of tourist footfalls in these areas.

Tenders were also floated for Jammu Tawi station for Rs 215.71 crore, Jalandhar Cantonment station for Rs 95.92 crore, and Nellore station for Rs 102.04 crore.

Discarding the PPP model, contracts are being awarded for the redevelopment of stations on EPC mode now in which the Railways would pay the contractors.

Since PPP model did not elicit required response and it was taking longer time to finalise the bids, the Railways opted EPC mode to speed up redevelopment work.

However, the rail premises would be offered for commercial exploitation after the redevelopment of the stations. Tenders for major stations like New Delhi and CSTM station in Mumbai are yet to be finalised.

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