Indian Railways is requesting Coal India to develop railway stations that support the sidings of Coal India. This was stated by AK Mittal, Member-Infrastructure, Railway Board, while speaking at a PHDCCI conference. The Railways has a target to develop over 20 stations this year.
“The railway station development programme is also facing some challenges in the present circumstances,” said Indian Railway Station Development Corporation (IRSDC’s) Sanjeev Lohia, while speaking at a conference.
In a related move, according to a Northern Railway press release, the Northern Railways’ General Manager reiterated that Station Improvement and Station Redevelopment plans shall be one of the major concerns during the current year and the Railway is pursuing a multi-pronged strategies – such as redevelopment through IRSDC through expert bodies like SNCF (French Railways) and Ministry of Tourism on cost sharing basis and through public-private partnership models without straining Railways’ finances.
Meanwhile, in PHDCCI, there is an opportunity for the Indian firms in the space of retrofitting 40,000 coaches which involves an expense of Rs 20 lakh per coach, said R Gupta, Member-Rolling Stock, Railway Board.
There is also opportunity for Indian firms in developing 6000 coaches. He added that for Swachh Bharat initiative of Indian Railways adding that every year, Railways spend close to Rs 700-800 crore in cleaning stations and its water bills alone range between Rs.750-800 crore. This also provides huge opportunity for private sector to partner with railways, added Gupta.