Railway adds 212 stations for upgrade

In addition to the 400-plus A1 and A-class railway stations identified for redevelopment, the Indian Railways also selected 212 C-class suburban stations to be redeveloped and has roped in consultancy firm EY for transaction advice. The Railways also plan to put up 50-60 premium stations for tender by the end of this year, and have recently issued tenders for 23 railways stations to be redeveloped. For the next lot, the Rail sector is targeting to offer 50-60 stations for redevelopment by second half of the year. The Railways has a total of 16 zones and the C-class stations are in the suburban areas having sizable footfalls and potential as these mostly fall in the local train services in cities such as Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, and Bengaluru. The Railway has to take Cabinet approval as at present, the Railways cannot leverage the land as the rule states that committing government land for long-term needs the Cabinet‘s approval and hence, Railways sought approval for the premium stations before issuing tenders, said official sources.