Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Mar 15, 2007
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Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Mar 15, 2007 ePaper |
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Logistics
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Modernisation Railway station modernisation plans may be delayed Mamuni Das
The Railways has pointed out that passenger access to railway stations is much easier than airports and that two work on different parameters.
New Delhi March 14 Indian Railways' plans to modernise its stations may be delayed with the Planning Commission asking Railways to change the manner in which it has been pursuing the issue. The Railways had decided that it would define the detailed design parameters for passenger facilities with the help of renowned consultants and then invite developers to build the station as per the design. However, the Planning Commission now wants Railways to define broad parameters only and let developers design the stations, as was followed in the airport modernisation plan.
Railways' case
The Railways has pointed out that passenger access to railway stations is much easier than airports and that two work on different parameters. In this backdrop, developers are more likely to give less priority to creating passenger facilities, curbing revenue generation for the station developer and operator, it says. Moreover, the Railways says that its method has been adopted in the modernisation plan of several stations worldwide, including London's Victoria station, the Dubai Metro, China's Shenzhen, Melbourne's Southern Cross, Berlin's Central station, Paris' St Lazare, Milan's Central Railway Station and Turin's Central Railway station in Italy.
Service portfolio
Since the Railways had decided that it would invite engineering consulting firms to advise it on preparing a detailed design report including that of passenger operational area, it has already short-listed world-class consultants for the New Delhi Railway station after a technical qualification round. It has recently technically qualified about seven firms for providing advisory services that include the Italy-based Grandi Stazioni SpA Via, Chinese firm East China Architecture and Design Institute (ECADI) and the UK headquartered Mott Mac Donald. However, the entire process may now get delayed with the Planning Commission wanting a change in the method. The Railways has identified about 18 stations to convert them into world-class ones. The tentative list includes New Delhi, Chhatrapati Shivaji Station (Mumbai), Howrah, Chennai Central, Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Mathura, Pune, Patna, Secunderabad and Thiruvananthapuram. It has sought status reports from the engineering, mechanical and commercial departments in-charge of the stations.
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