Railway launches Rs.9,000-cr projects

Putting in motion the much-hyped railway stations' upgrading projects, the ministry of railways recently launched the first phase of station redevelopment covering commercial development of 23 stations across the country at a staggering investment of Rs. 9,000cr. As part of its original program, railways will take up 400 A1 and A stations for redevelopment through public private partnership (PPP), which may result in at least Rs. 1 lakh-cr investments. The 23 stations that will be up for bidding in the first phase include Chennai Central, Ranchi, Udaipur, Indore, Yesvantpur, Bangalore Cantonment, Visakhapatnam, Howrah, Kamakhya, Faridabad, Jammu Tawi, Secunderabad, Vijayawada, Kozhikode, and Bhopal. In the process, railway is following a transparent process by partnering with the ministry of urban development to develop smart stations in identified smart cities, said Railway Minister, Suresh Prabhu, adding that several pension funds, investors, organizations like World Bank and various state governments are also involved in the project.