Vijayawada Railway station land to be commercially used

​Vijayawada: Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu launched 1st phase of Stations Redevelopment Programme for Vijayawada railway station via video remote link from New Delhi on Thursday.

The programme is aimed at redevelopment of 400 stations through partnership with private players. The Minister unveiled phase-1 of redevelopment project which included 23 stations including Vijayawada.

The Minister said Station Redevelopment Project of Indian Railways is a largest such development programme with an expected investment of around Rs 1 lakh crore.

A transparent Swiss Challenge method would be followed for finalising the bidder, he said. “The redevelopment will provide amenities, services to passengers in line with best in world class railway stations and this would improve non-fare revenue to railways.”

Stations will be redeveloped through the public-private-partnership (PPP) model without straining Railway finances, he said.

He also said surplus revenue will be generated through development of encroachment-free railway lands. Commercial establishments including hotels, multiplexes and shopping malls will come up in the railway lands.

Developer will hold the rights for commercial exploitation of the land at the station for a period of 45 years, while the ownership of the land remains with the Railways,” the Minister said.

South Central Railway (SCR) General Manager Vinod Kumar Yadav said 36 railway stations on SCR were included in A-1 and A category stations. On the potential of Vijayawada railway station, he said, around 1 lakh footfalls and 250 trains are handled each day and the station offers lot of scope for Redevelopment.

At Vijayawada Railway Station, 7.87 acres (31,849 Sq mtrs) of reserved railway land situated adjacent to the railway station is available for leveraging the real estate potential.

In addition, land of 14,337 sq mtrs of station building area, 33,821 Sq mtrs of platform area and 13,000 sq.mtrs of circulating area was available at Vijayawada railway station to carry out commercial development of air space, Yadav said.

Foot-over-bridge and a subway connecting east side to west side of station and parking facilities on east, west and south sides of station keeping future demands in view would be developed in the redevelopment project. Multilevel car parking facility for 20,000 sqm on west side need to be accommodated, he said.

Other features are provision of executive lounges with a facility of cafeteria, play area for kids, locker facilities and all waiting areas should be connected with elevators to platforms. Each platform should have escalator, staircase and lift at three locations.

Advanced luggage scanning systems, automatic entry, exit points along with PTZ cameras for capturing distant objects to be provided and budget hotels and a 5-star hotel need to be planned under the project. Iconic building also to be developed making it a landmark for the new city of Amaravathi, Vinod Kumar Yadav said.