Rlys changes track on facelift of New Delhi Railway Station

With just a year left for Delhi to host the Commonwealth Games and the plan to make the New Delhi Railway Station a world class station still going nowhere, the railway ministry has now switched to Plan B.

The ministry has decided to let the world class station project wait for a year along and is instead giving the station structure a facelift, modernising passenger amenities and upgrading railway platforms.

??This is a short-term solution so that the in-coming visitors for the Games don?t face any hardship at the station. Once the Games are over, the world class station project will be back on track,?? a Railway Board official told FE.

Former railway minister Lalu Prasad had announced the ambitious project in Rail Budget 2007-08 and had promised to complete it by October 2010, well in time for the Games.

In the meanwhile, it has also roped in the Indian School of Business in Hyderbad to conduct a study of world class stations internationally and provide recommendations. This would ensure that the railways does not face the same kind of difficulties that it has faced with the New Delhi Station project. Apart from the New Delhi station, the railways is planning to turn over a dozen stations into world class stations.

As reported by FE earlier, the ministry had to withdraw the first tender for the Rs 9,000 crore-project that it had floated in October 2007 because of contentious clauses in the bid document as well as issues of cost escalation.

While it issued a fresh request for qualification earlier this year, it may not be able to award the project by this month, as was earlier scheduled. This is because the ministry is yet to get administrative clearances from local bodies like the Delhi Development Authority.

Significantly, Rail Bhawan is also awaiting the financial viability report for the project, without which it can?t finalise the bidder.

In another twist to the much delayed project, the railways has met a hurdle from a surprising source. There are about 13 religious monuments like temples and shrines in the area surrounding the station. ??These will be difficult to relocate as it will hurt religious sentiments. We still have to decide on how to tackle this problem,?? another official involved in the project said.

As part of the project, not only the existing railway station and associated buildings will be remodelled, but the railway yard and surrounding railway land will also be developed.