The Hindu Business Line : CMS McKenna, Grant Thornton to advise Rlys on Delhi station revamp

New Delhi, April 9 London-based legal firm CMS Cameron McKenna would provide legal consulting services to Indian Railways for the New Delhi railway station redevelopment programme, while Grant Thornton will provide advisory services on the financial issues.

These two firms have been selected through a competitive process for the Rs 5,000-crore project.

Railways had invited bids for financial and legal consulting services for the New Delhi station development programme, which will be undertaken on a design-build-finance-operate-transfer basis. Several large companies including DLF, L&T, Gammon, GMR, GVK, and Reliance Energy are interested in the project.

The New Delhi station handles 3.5-lakh passengers per day on an average. Every day, 256 trains, including 78 suburban trains, arrive or depart from this station.

CMS Cameron McKenna’s experience in such projects include services for the first-ever design, build, finance, transfer project on the UK rail network and advising Metronet, the company that is responsible for maintaining and upgrading two-thirds of the London Underground rail network, on all aspects of its bid for the concession project.

Technical consulting

For the technical consulting services (that include architectural inputs) of the station, Hong Kong-based Terry Farrell is advising Railways. “It has already submitted a draft report. Based on the feedback of Railways officials, Terry Farrell will submit the final report,” said sources in the know.

The Government had been aiming to modernise the New Delhi Railway station by the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Currently, Railways has invited bids for the prequalification process.

However, the model concession agreement (MCA) for the project, which would be the standard document for inviting bids from developers to redevelop the identified railway stations on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer mode, is not yet ready.