Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Hon’ble Minister for Railways launched the first Phase of Station Redevelopment Project on Indian Railways at Railway Board, New Delhi today i.e., 8th February, 2017. Amongst the Stations covered in the launch is, Vijayawada Railway Station on South Central Railway. Simultaneously, the launch program was held at Divisional Railway Manager’s office, Vijayawada which was addressed by Shri Vinod Kumar Yadav, General Manager, SCR through Video Conference.
Addressing the gathering, the Minister for Railways stated that the Station Redevelopment Project of Indian Railways is a largest such development program with an expected investment of around 1.00 lakh crore. Railway Stations hold potential for huge numbers of footfalls and eyeballs and are the most valuable real estate in the country and therefore carry immense scope for generating revenue for Railways through Station Redevelopment Project. With a transparent Swiss Challenge method for finalizing the bidder, the Project is bound to succeed with the Railway Stations catering to host lot of facilities. Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, expressed confidence that various stake holders including State Governments and Infra companies will join hands in this venture. The Project holds scope for aligning with the smart cities concept of the Ministry of Urban development too, he added.
Later, Shri Vinod Kumar Yadav, GM/SCR in his interaction with the media at Vijayawada highlighted on the salient features of the Station Redevelopment Project and said that 36 Railway Stations on SCR i.e. all A-1 and A category Stations have been selected for the same, which will take off in a Phase wise manner. On the potential of Vijayawada Railway Station, the General Manager stated that with around 1 lakh footfalls and 250 trains handled each day, the Station offers lot of avenue for Redevelopment. The concept is basically tuned to the lower floor as Railway Station, while the air space above will be the commercial facility with Hotels, Food plaza’s etc., he stated.
Shri Ashok Kumar, Divisional Railway Manager, Vijayawada Division was present at Vijayawada while Shri A.K.Gupta, Additional General Manager and other Principal Heads of Department were present in the Video Launch. Project Developers representing several major infra companies were also present.
Brief on Station Redevelopment Project, Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh
On SCR, 5 ‘A-1’ Category stations and 31 ‘A’ category stations, totaling to 36 stations have been selected, out of which, 21 stations are in Andhra Pradesh State.
Today, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Hon’ble Minister for Railways has launched the process for station redevelopment of 20 stations in Phase-1, which includes Vijayawada Station. The bids for Vijayawada station have been uploaded on the website, which can be downloaded.
Salient features:
At Vijayawada, 1.00 Lakh footfalls are registered, served by 250(186) passenger carrying trains generating earnings of Rs. 0.70 Crore per day.(Rs. 250 Crs per annum).
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, Station development land of 14,337 Sq.mtrs of station building area, 33,821 Sq.mtrs of platform area & 13,000 Sq.mtrs of circulating area is available at Vijayawada Railway Station to carryout commercial development of air space.
The available land is encroachment free and land titles are available with the Railways.
Commercial potential of this vacant Railway land at/near stations will be leveraged to develop world class stations and the surplus generated from the commercial potential will be used to fund the modernization of Railway stations will no additional funding required from the Railways
Indicative list of amenities at redeveloped station;
Redevelopment of station building to provide an iconic structure with modern state-of-the-art facilities
Congestion free non-conflicting entry/ exit to the station premises
Segregation of arrival/departure of passengers - No conflict between incoming and outgoing passengers
Adequate concourse without overcrowding - generally above the platforms/ lines
All essential facilities at concourse - catering, small retail, wash rooms, cloak rooms, drinking water, ATM, pharmacy, internet, etc.
Integration with other modes of public/ private transport systems e.g. bus, metro, etc.
Integrating both sides of the city, i.e. entry/ exit on both sides of the station wherever site conditions permits
No parcel movement across the length of platforms
User friendly international signage understandable by all sections of passengers
Additional facilities like retail, shopping, hospitality, food courts etc.
Medical facilities
Well illuminated circulating area and sufficient provision for drop off, pick up and parking
Green buildings, with optimum use of natural ventilation and lighting
While designing the station, future expansion of platforms/ lines etc. to be provided for
Provisions for passenger integration with present/planned/future metro railways, Bus Rapid Transit systems or other modes of mass transportation
Specific additional amenities at Vijayawada:
Foot over bridge and a subway connecting east side to west side of station.
Parking facilities on east, west and south sides of station keeping future demands in view. Particularly Multilevel car parking facility for 20,000 sqm on west side need to be accommodated.
A proper segregation of arrivals and departure levels need to be planned.
Provision of executive lounges with a facility of cafeteria, play area for kids, locker facilities and other advanced facilities.
All waiting areas should be connected with travelators to platforms. Each platform should have a set of Escalator, staircase, lift at three locations.
Mechanised handling of parcels should be provided.
All Platforms to be entirely covered duly making provision for sunlight over the tracks.
Advanced luggage scanning systems, automatic entry/exit points along with PTZ cameras for capturing distant objects to be provided.
Modern toilets with advance facilities need to be planned.
Separate shopping and dining areas to be planned.
Budget hotels and a 5-star hotel need to be planned.
A cluster of toilets (6 nos) need to be planned at suitable locations.
In all Iconic buildings /structures developed by the developer, an area of 200 sqm office space to be provided for Railways.
Principles of green building and energy efficiency to be adopted.
Iconic building to be developed making it a landmark for the new city of Amaravathi.
