Sixty-year relief period to private investors for railway stations’ revamp

The Indian Railways is all set to offer a 60-year concession period to private investors who invest in station redevelopment. This is the longest tenure for public-private partnership projects offered in the country.

Also read: Want a unique Indian wedding? Now you can get married at a railway platform

Private companies that decide to participate in the redevelopment of railway stations will get the adjoining land where they would be able to build malls, hotels and commercial complexes. However, they would have to first modernise the railway station and make it able to provide world-class passenger amenities before the allotment.

Also read: Indian Railways just got its first 'Make in India' train rake

Other than the land, investors will also be given space on platforms which they can use for commercial purpose, a senior rail board official told ET.

With this scheme, Indian Railways plans to redevelop 400 major stations, for which minimum investment of an estimate of Rs 1lakh crore is needed.

Also read: Indian Railways to increase the speed of its passenger trains up to 200 km per hour, thanks to Russia

The railways is inviting bids for Lokmanya Tilak (T), Pune, Thane, Visakhapatnam, Howrah, Allahabad, Kamakhya, Faridabad, Jammu Tawi, Udaipur City, Secunderabad, Vijayawada, Ranchi, Kozhikode, Yashwantpur, Bangalore Cantonment, Bhopal, Mumbai Central (Main), Borivali and Indore stations.

(Image source: The Dollar Business)