10 Smart Cities to have smart rail stations

Ernakulam Junction among stations to be redeveloped
Ernakulam Junction figures on the list of 10 railway stations across the country to be redeveloped by the special purpose vehicle to be created under the Union Ministries of Railways and Urban Development.
Tirupati, Delhi, Sarai Rohilla, Nellore, Madgaon, Lucknow, Gomtinagar, Kota, Thane New are the other railway stations to be redeveloped in partnership with the respective Smart Cities. Kochi was the first city to make it to the Smart City list from the State and recently Thiruvananthapuram had made it in the third round.
New entity
The Ministries have decided on a new entity to develop these 10 stations with world-class facilities.
The Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) under the Union Ministry of Railways and National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC), a public sector unit of the Ministry of Urban Development, has signed an agreement to take up the remodelling works.
A Smart City with a smart railway station is the new concept.
A Special Purpose Vehicle will be floated by the RLDA and NBCC to execute the station redevelopment project. A self-financing model will be adopted by the joint venture company for redevelopment.
The expertise of the NBCC will be used to prepare the Detailed Project Report and business model. The RLDA will help the NBCC in arranging all requisite data about the stations and get vacant land allotted from Railways as per the approved master plan of each station. A top railway official told The Hindu that the new approach adopted to redevelop Ernakulam Junction had not been communicated to the division.
“We have information only about the development of A1 stations through the PPP mode.”
The joint venture will also have to enter into city support agreement with the respective Smart City authorities and local bodies to obtain support relating to development of approach infrastructure.
The move comes at a time when an initiative to upgrade Kozhikode railway station, an A1 railway station with passenger earnings of Rs. 60 crore a year, through the Public-Private Partnership mode did not meet with success. The station is one of the 21 in the State identified for upgrade by leveraging the real estate potential and airspace in and around railway station.

