The Indian Railways has announced initial guidelines for the proposed re-development of 400 stations in the country, mandating that an applicant has to have a net worth of at least Rs 50 crore at the end of the last financial year to be eligible to bid for it.
Considered to be a game changer for Indian Railways, the national transporter plans to re-develop 400 stations through an innovative public-private partnership model, the Swiss Challenge. The cabinet earlier this year had cleared the proposal.
Indian Railways envisioned a plan to change the face of these identified stations and have state-of-the-art facilities like helipads, shopping outlets, food courts, medical facilities, integration with public/private modes of transport, the segregation of passengers according to arrival and departure and green stations with optimum use of natural light and ventilation.
Already, the ministry has held an informal meeting with potential investors to understand expectations of private players, sources said. Representatives of real estate bigwigs, including Shapoorji Pallonji, Hindustan Construction Company, Larsen & Tubro, ATS Infrastructure, GMR, Raheja Developers, Tata Infrastructure and Reliance Infrastructure met Indian Railways officials in Delhi last week for this purpose, they added.
The ministry has also declared necessary details of the railway stations, including land plan of the station that indicates the area of its buildings, yard, circulating area and vacant land area which can be spared for commercial development as well as current encroachment area. Besides other details, the Indian Railways has uploaded on its website an indicative list of amenities to be provided in these stations for their re-development for interested parties.