Indian Railways to award 40 stations in 2022-23

IR intends to award around 40 stations for redevelopment in 2022-23. Of the 40, 32 will be redeveloped by different zones of the national transporter while eight will be undertaken by the Rail Land Development Au­thority (RLDA). It is expected that this will not be a one-size-fits-all appr­o­ach and tender requirements will be different based on local requirements of the railway station. Redevelopment work is already under way at the Ayodhya, Bijwasan, Safdarjung and Gomtinagar railway stations. Meanwhile, tendering is under way for the Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh), Udhna (Gujarat) and Gaya (Bihar) railway stations by the zonal railways. The railway station development programme had taken a toll when the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC) was abruptly shut down in October 2021. The nine-year-old SPV was a joint venture between RLDA and IRCON. Post the shutdown, IRSDC was handling 60 railway stations. These stations were subsequently handed back to the zonal railways, setting back the process of station modernisation by a few months.