Prabhu launches station redevelopment programme

Railway minister Suresh Prabhu inaugurated the station redevelopment programme on Wednesday.

In Eastern Railway, starting from the Howrah station, 15 stations have been planned to be developed in a phased manner.

The minister flagged off the project through a video conference. The station redevelopment programme is railway's largest transit oriented development programme. The expenditure of the same will be around Rs 1,00,000 crore across the nation.

In Bengal — Asansol, Durgapur, Jasidih, Madhupur, Bandel Jn, Barddhaman, Howrah, Rampurhat, Bhagalpur, Jamalpur, Malda Town, New Farakka, Kolkata Terminal, Naihati and Sealdah will be redeveloped. The fallout of this programme will be a benefit to the railways and passengers as well. This programme may provide opportunities for generating significant non-traffic revenue also.

In Eastern Railway, Satish Kumar, the Additional General Manager, released the Stations Redevelopment Programme Booklet. In the first phase, Howrah station has been chosen because of its iconic and heritage structure, excellent location and a massive footfall of around 9 lakh per day. There are different salient features of the selected stations. These stations will be made as iconic stations and will be developed as per global benchmarks and design norms. This development will touch 16 million passenger footfalls per day.

Notably, a safety fund of Rs 20,000 crore for railways was announced in the Union Budget. The work includes development of new lines, station redevelopment and setting up of Rail Development Authority and the High Speed Rail Authority will be in the focus as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the first Rail Budget-cum-General Budget.