Cabinet sanctions a Rs 10,000 crore for 'futuristic' upgrade of three railway stations

Digital Desk: The long-awaited redevelopment of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) train stations in New Delhi, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai was authorised by the Union cabinet on Wednesday for a price tag of Rs 10,000 crore.

The stations would be built with customer comfort and futuristic design in mind, according to Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw. The precise cost breakdown will be known once the tenders for these projects are released in the next 10 days.

As a framework needs to be built to assure there are no traffic congestion issues in these normally high-density locations, the renovation of these stations will take two to three years.

According to the ministry of railways, a master plan has been created to ensure efficient traffic flow and enough parking facilities.

The stations will have rooftop plazas with a variety of services, including waiting areas, lounges for entertainment, play areas, food courts, and leisure areas. Vaishnaw said that plans have been developed to guarantee that, following reconstruction, the livelihoods of millions of small business owners in and around the stations be protected.

Challenges are anticipated because the most significant renovation projects call for the reconstruction of nearby infrastructure, including roads, existing structures, and bus and metro stations. Vaishnaw remarked, "A network of elevated highways would be built to enable smooth traffic.

Building infrastructure around the station that compliments its current architecture will be used to redevelop CSMT, a Unesco World Heritage site, without compromising the station's historic significance.

The ministry will no longer be considering station reconstruction on a public-private partnership (PPP) basis, the minister stated, reversing its previous position. He continued, "The three stations will be entirely developed by budgetary means." Through the Engineering Procurement Construction (EPC) procedure, the projects will be put out to bid.

The ministry had previously released a tender for the renovation of CSMT using the build-operate-transfer (BOT) paradigm, a type of PPP. The project was restarted from scratch when the Indian Railway Stations Redevelopment Corporation (IRSDC) was dissolved last year, which caused the process to be delayed by a year.

Adani Railways, GMR Highways, Godrej Properties, and Oberoi Realty were among the major infrastructure firms competing for the high-profile project.

Given that the Railways Ministry is the second-largest contributor to the Centre's Rs 6 trillion national monetisation pipeline, the move assumes significance. Projects at railroad stations are supposed to help the national transporters reach their goal of monetizing 50% of their operations.