Indian Railways, MoHUA ink MoU with JICA

10 May 2023 CW Team

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Railway (MAHSR) station's surroundings are being developed by Indian Railways as part of a mission mode. In this regard, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for Project - SMART has been signed by the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).

The Project-SMART intends to improve passengers' accessibility and convenience as well as that of other stakeholders. It also seeks to encourage commercial activity close to station areas. In order to plan, develop, and administer the areas around MAHSR stations, the project would help institutional capacity of state governments, Municipal Corporations, and Urban Development Authorities.

Four high-speed rail stations have the MoU in place. These are Sabarmati, Surat, Virar, and Thane, in that order. There are twelve stations altogether along the high-speed rail line. Surat, Virar, and Thane are Greenfield stations out of those. Sabarmati Station in Gujarat is a Brownfield reconstruction.

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