The Hindu Business Line : Rlys to modernise stations on public-pvt partnership basis

The proposed facilities for these stations include segregation of services at floor levels for smooth passenger flow, segregation of incoming and outgoing passengers and major facilities at underground and first floor level. This move is one of the steps taken by the Railways to improve facilities at points of passenger interface.

Indian Railways has recently technically qualified about seven firms for providing advisory services for modernising the New Delhi railway station. They include the Italy-based Grandi Stazioni SpA Via, Chinese firm East China Architecture and Design Institute (ECADI) and the UK headquartered Mott Mac Donald, according to sources.

PPP model

The Railways would now invite financial bids from these companies to provide design consultancy service apart from advising on models to adopt for the station modernisation work in a public private partnership format.

In return for investing in modernisation of stations, the Railways proposes to allow private parties to use the air space above platform along with construction and maintenance of operational and passenger-handling areas free of cost. It would repossess the assets after a fixed duration. The operational and passenger-handling areas would continue under the Railways management after upgradation by the private firm.

18 stations on list

The Railways has identified about 18 stations to convert them into world-class ones. The tentative list includes New Delhi, Chhatrapati Shivaji Station (Mumbai), Howrah, Chennai Central, Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Mathura, Pune, Patna, Secunderabad and Thiruvanathapuram.

In order to firm up the steps required to modernise stations in partnership with private parties, the Railways has sought status reports from the engineering, mechanical and commercial departments in-charge of the stations.

Overseas projects

The companies which have technically qualified have prior experience in designing terminals. Grandi Stazioni SpA is an Italian railway management company involved in upgrading and managing Italy's railway stations, including terminals in Rome, Milan, Florence, and Venice.

Mott Mac Donald is a management, engineering and development consultancy and has been involved in projects such as the London Underground rail station, Hong Kong International Airport, Taiwan High Speed Rail Project, Heathrow Terminal 5 and Silicon Valley Bay Area Rapid Transit, USA, according to the company Web site.

The Shanghai-based ECADI has been involved in mega projects such as Shanghai World Financial Centre and Chinese Central Television headquarters, among others.

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