Nidhi Taparia & Vaibhav Chadha
The Indian Railways recently, in its quest of providing thrust to the rail infrastructure, awarded the Habibganj project near Bhopal to a private consortium. This can be seen as the start of Achhe Din for as many as 400 railway stations across India awaiting their redevelopment since long.
The Indian Railway Station Development Corporation (IRSDC) is now looking for tie-ups with various players; the tie-ups are taking different forms of engagement. There are multiple models available to Railways in this regard; like Public Private Partnerships (as used in the Habibganj model), direct tie-ups with Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), award of work to foreign governments and the “modified Swiss challenge” for its own Zonal Railways.
With regards to the government-to-government channel, thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s outstanding camaraderie with foreign leaders, countries like Belgium, France, South Korea, the UK and China are already in talks with the Union Government about availing contracts of either a station each or even a cluster of stations. Working on other models, many PSUs will also be roped in for both the possibilities. Likewise, the process of creation of Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) especially for stations in partnership with the state governments of Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh is also underway. “We are negotiating with World Bank for getting USD 500 million for station development project. We can also join hands with counties like Germany, the UK and France which have expertise in redevelopment to modernise a few stations here. I am also writing to all chief ministers to be part of the redevelopment project in their respective States”, said the Railway Minister Shri Suresh Prabhu at an earlier event.
The Railways will carry out the appointment process of a Strategic Adviser by August 15, 2016. The Strategic Adviser will be a consulting firm which shall analyse the feasibility and financial viability of each of the project for 400 railway stations; and also study their respective market value and commercial scope. Technical bids to select the advisory firm were opened few days back and it must be noted that some of the prominent international firms also have been keenly participating in such bids.
After having examined many international case studies, the Railway has decided to design the station as a “multi-modal transit hub”. Major highlight of this project is ensuring minimal congestion on platforms by providing a central air space concourse of 84 metres long and 34 metres wide equipped with amenities and avoiding stampede situations by completely segregating arriving and departing passengers. In this deal, the developer has to give Railways a redeveloped station as per the transporter’s specifications for Rs. 100 crore, after which the developer can venture commercially up to Rs. 350 crore. The revenue sharing arrangement is such that it gets to keep everything except proceeds coming from ticket sales. The first Habibganj station is proposed to be ready by 2019 and the developer is required to carry out financial closure by November, 2016.
As per the contract signed between the Indian Railway Station Development Corporation (IRSDC) and the private developer, the latter will provide modern amenities like parking lot, escalators, lifts, landscaping, concourse, travelators, walkway, parcel corridor and subways as a part of the redevelopment of the station. The government also allows for commercial venturing on the land and air space in and around the station which means that besides these modern amenities, there will also be food plazas, medical clinics, office complex, salon and other facilities to use the area to generate revenue for railways. “Till now, railway was depending on passenger and freight earnings. But time has come now to look beyond fare revenue. Station redevelopment is one such revenue stream,” Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had said at an event to mark the signing agreement with the developer for the project.
Chandigarh, Surat, Shivaji Nagar (Pune), Brijwasan, Anand Vihar, SAS Nagar (Mohali) and Gandhinagar stations will also be developed by IRSDC on the lines of Habibganj model. Such an ambitious project throughout the country can be a face-lift for the otherwise problems-plagued railway stations. All in all, if everything goes well, Acche Din will arrive soon for the Yatrigans!
(Nidhi Taparia is associated with St. Xaviers College, Rajasthan University and Vaibhav Chadha is a Research Associate at Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation, New Delhi)