New Delhi railway station to be revamped

The redevelopment master plan of New Delhi railway station area will be worth Rs 4,700 crore till 2030 and will be undertaken solely through government funding, said Ved Parkash Dudeja, Vice Chairman, Rail Land Development Authority.

The government has opted for engineering, procurement and construction or EPC contracts for station redevelopment instead of public-private partnerships in order to avoid putting the burden of user fee on passengers, said Dudeja.

The authority is under the Ministry of Railways and is entrusted with development of railway land for commercial use for the purpose of generating revenue by non-tariff measures.

“...the Government of India decided why to burden the common masses…PPP model creates a revenue stream and revenue stream comes from charging extra money which is being done in the airports. Government is sensitive to the needs of the common people and they decided for the (station) development with our funds,” he said. Under EPC contract, the government bears the financial burden of project development. The masterplan is for the entire New Delhi station area, which will include commercial development, he said. The authority has so far this year floated tenders worth Rs 27,000 crore. For 35 station projects, the contract is being awarded, the process is on and for another 15 stations we have invited proposals, he added.

Last month, the Cabinet approved Indian Railways’ proposal for redevelopment of railway stations at Delhi, Ahmedabad and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in Mumbai for Rs.10,000 crore.

Dudeja outlined that though the pandemic impacted the operations of the authority, it has seen recovery and is targeting a revenue of Rs 5,000 crore in 2022-23.

Rajesh Prasad, Director (Operations), Rail Vikas Nigam, who was also present at the event, outlined that the company has achieved its financial targets in 2020-21 and exceeded the same in 2021-22 despite covid headwinds.

“RVNL (Rail Vikas Nigam) has a big role to play as the company has been contributing 35-37% of railways’ total infrastructure and will have a big role to play to achieve a modal share of 45% (freight),” said Prasad.