Habibganj Railway Station to become India’s first private railway station

Habibganj Railway Station, located in the suburbs of Bhopal, will become India’s first railway station to be redeveloped in a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

The station redevelopment work in the railway station will be launched on 9 June 2017 by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu.

The project aims at developing Habibganj Railway Station as a as a world-class transit hub equipped with all amenities.

Key highlights

• The operation and maintenance of the railway station has been given to Bhopal-based Bansal Group for a period of eight years.

• The Bansal Group plans to completely overhaul the station and develop four commercial land parcels to make Habibganj a commercial hub with shops, offices and hotels, all within three years.

• The environment-friendly railway station will be powered by solar energy.

• The station will also have facilities for disabled. It will have lifts, escalators and travelators and underpasses.

• The station will be redesigned in such a way that the premises, in case of a emergency, can be evacuated in four minutes and passengers can reach designated points of safety in six minutes.

• The Bansal Group will be responsible for all the facilities at the station like food stalls, retiring rooms, power, platform maintenance, et cetera. However, the Group will not be responsible for core operations such as train and parcel movement, signalling and ticketing.

• The Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Limited (IRSDC) will oversee the Habibganj project.

Comment

The former Union Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee first put forward the idea in 2009-10 to set up world-class railway stations. It was only in 2015 that the project was revived by the Railway Minister Suresh prabhu. The Habibganj project is a part of the Indian Railways’ ambitious plan to re-develop 400 A1 and A category railway stations.  The Indian Railways’ ambition to redevelop 400 stations into world-class facilities is completely based upon its idea of land monetization. It aims to modernize and upgrade passenger amenities at stations by raising money through commercial development of railway land.