New Delhi, Ahmedabad and Mumbai's CSMT rail stations to be developed with Rs 10,000 crores investment: Govt

The Centre on Wednesday approved Rs 10,000 crore for the redevelopment of the New Delhi, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus railway stations

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while approving the project also decided that all three stations will integrate train services with buses, auto and metro rail services.

Tenders for the re-development of these three railway stations will be issued in the next 10 days, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Tuesday.

The target is to complete the redevelopment of New Delhi station in three-and-a-half years. The other two railway stations will be redeveloped in two-and-half years, he said.

To make the stations comfortable, there will be proper illumination, wayfinding/signages, acoustics, lifts/escalators/travelators. Masterplans have been prepared for smooth movement of traffic with adequate parking facilities, a statement from the ministry said.

The Minister also said as many as 199 stations with a footfall of 50 lakh per day are planned to be redeveloped in the first phase. While the tender for 47 stations is out, work is underway at 32 stations. The total cost of the re-development of 199 stations including these three major stations is Rs 60,000 crores, he said.

All redevelopment of stations will be done in the engineering-procurement-construction (EPC) model and not in public-private partnership (PPP) mode to ensure that there is no additional burden on passengers.

Though the government earlier planned to develop the stations on the PPP model, now they have dropped as it failed to get a good response from private players.

"Railways cater to the middle class and lower middle class so any extra burden on passengers is not good. So, it has been decided to invest budget money in the Railways," Vaishnaw said.