Railways adopts PPP-EPC blend for station revamp

The Indian Railways intends to employ a combination of public-private partnership (PPP) and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) models for the redevelopment of stations. They indicated that the initial stations to undergo redevelopment in PPP mode could be Coimbatore and Vijayawada, while New Delhi and CST would be redeveloped using the EPC mode. Railways anticipate commencing the bidding process for Coimbatore and Vijayawada stations under PPP soon. The plan is in its final stages. Within the next two months, approval from the Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) would be sought for the development of these stations. The shift to the EPC mode occurred some time ago due to the lack of private interest, as per the government. In the current initiative, 15 stations are targeted for modernization through PPP. These include Tambram, Anand Vihar, Dadar, Kalyan, Andheri, and Pune railway stations. The Bangalore City, Vadodara, Bhopal, Chennai Central, Delhi, Hazrat Nizamuddin, and Avadi stations are also included in the list. Under the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP), station redevelopment is a prominent asset class, contributing approximately Rs 762.50 billion. According to the NMP document, the railway station assets identified for monetization account for around 5% of the total stations in the country. Also read: MSL Secures Rs 1 bn contract for Vande Bharat trains component supply Bengaluru Metro to Expand Tracks to Speed Up Trains