Railways mulls land-pooling with states to boost station re-development

These stations will have escalators, self-ticketing counters, restaurants, malls, theatres, lounges

Indian Railways' ambitious plan for the re-development of 400 stations for commercial use at an investment of about Rs 1 lakh crore is set to get a fresh lease of life as state governments are joining the initiative through a unique land-pooling method.

  

As per the plan, Railways will tie-up with the concerned state governments to pool their nearby unused land as part of the station development programme by forming joint ventures. 

“We are in an advanced stage of discussions with some states in this regard. If this works out, Railways' land will be pooled with state government land and will be used for commercial purposes. It will be on a revenue-sharing model,” said a senior railway official.  

The re-developed stations will provide amenities like digital signage, escalators, self-ticketing counters, executive lounges, restaurants, malls, theatres and  Wi-Fi facility.

Through commercialisation of vacant land, railways is targeting a surplus revenue of about Rs 10,000 crore on an annual basis. The national transporter has so far picked 23 stations across the country, which is expected to see investments worth Rs 9,000 crore in the first phase of station redevelopment. 

As per estimates, the programme will benefit more than 100 cities and 16 million passengers per day across the country. It is expected to provide approximately 2,200 acres of prime land to private developers across the country.

“For pooling, we are planning to rope in the state governments in these 400 A1 and A stations that we have zeroed in for re-development,” he said. 

Out of the total 461,487 hectare land under Railways network, 46,333 hectare is vacant land, which the national transporter wants to monetise. The 23 stations that were up for grabs in the first phase, included Chennai Central, Ranchi, Udaipur, Indore, Yesvantpur, Bangalore Cantonment, Visakhapatnam, Howrah, Kamakhya, Faridabad, Jammu Tawi, Secunderabad, Vijayawada, Kozhikode and Bhopal.

As part of the strategy, Railways is likely to sign deals with the state governments at the India international rail conclave set to be held in Delhi in December. 

“Our plan is to align Railways with central and state tourism departments to use their unused land banks for creating theme parks, haats, warehousing hubs and other commercial establishments,” added another official.  

Habibganj station in Bhopal was allotted to Bansal Group in July 2016  while bidding process for Surat, Anand Vihar and Bijwasan are also under way. 

The total estimated cost of re-development of Habibganj station is Rs 100 crore and that of commercial development is approximately Rs 350 crore. 

The companies that are in the fray for Anand Vihar and Bijwasan include Tata Group, Shapoorji Pallonji, GMR, Essel Group, L&T, IL&FS, Mcnally Bharat, Supreme Infrastructure, Oriental Structure, Bhartiya group, MBL Infrastructure, ASF Infrastructure, Bansal Constructions, Bharti Realty, Ahluwalia and IRB Infra.