Chennai Central to get Malaysian makeover in station revamp project

In the first phase, 23 railway stations including the iconic Howrah station, Mumbai Central and Chennai Central have been selected for the project which aims to make the best use of the assets of the stations. 

Aimed at attracting nearly Rs 1 lakh crore private investment, the station redevelopment project envisages infrastructure revamp at platforms and circulating areas. A long-term partnership will be forged with Malaysia on a government-to-government basis for offering about 20 stations to the southeast country, said a senior Railway Ministry official. 

Railways has already launched the ambitious project offering about 400 stations to be redeveloped in PPP model envisaging investment of about Rs 1 lakh crore. While Malaysia is participating in the bidding process for 23 stations, the railways is mulling to offer about 20 stations separately involving about Rs 10,000 crore investment on a government-to-government partnership basis, the official added. 

Other stations being modernised in the first phase include Pune, Thane, Visakhapatnam, Kamakhya, Jammu Tawi, Udaipur City, Secunderabad, Vijaywada, Ranchi, Kozhikode, Yesvantpur, Bangalore Cantt, Bhopal, Bandra Terminus, Borivali and Indore. The developer will hold the rights for commercial exploitation of the land for a  period of 45 years, while ownership of the land would remain with the railways.