Web-based bidding system for station redevelopment project

New Delhi: Railways will opt for web-based bidding system for involvement of private players in upgrading of stations across the country.

“The existing stations were constructed almost a century ago and are congested now. Population have increased since then and we have to expand stations to provide better amenities,” Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said here today.

Prabhu said the entire process involving private participation in station redevelopment scheme will be transparent.

“We will soon come out with RFQ (request for quotation) for station development. We have identified six/seven stations for it and work will be taken up for two stations at first. It will be a web-based tendering system,” he said.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that stations should provide airport like facilities, Prabhu said railway stations have more footfalls than airport.

“Whatever revenue we will earn through redevelopment it will be ploughed back for passenger amenities,” he said.

Asked why new trains were not announced in the Rail Budget this time, Prabhu maintained that he is not averse to launching new train but addition of more trains will choke the routes further.

New train should run but no new announcement, he said and added, “Our main trunk routes between Delhi and Mumbai and between Delhi and Kolkata are heavily congested. The Delhi-Kolkata route passes through Bihar and UP.”

Prabhu also mentioned the over-congestion in the Allahabad-Mughal Sarai section in Delhi-Kolkata route.

The route is already occupied by two times more than its capacity and even a small asset failure has huge effect on the route delaying several trains for hours, the minister said.

He said that the railways is currently reviewing the requirement to minimise the impact of asset failure.

“We have received requests from all our MPs about the new trains and the review process is on,” he said.

Prabhu also mentioned about the launching of customer portal service for registering complaints and suggestions.

“We have launched a customer portal where one can register complaints and give suggestion,” he said.

Asked on the possibilities of running bullet train in the country, Prabhu said there is a requirement for high speed train but time line cannot be given at this stage.

Feasibility studies are on for running bullet train on Mumbai-Ahmedabad and Delhi-Chennai routes. While Japan is involved in Mumbai-Ahmedabad section, China is doing it in the Delhi-Chennai route.

“We will take further step only after the feasibility reports are submitted,” he said.

However, Prabhu said efforts are on to increase the speed of Rajdhnai, Shatabdi and other Mail/Express trains.

Hoping that improvement in railways will be seen in the next ten years, Prabhu concluded his speech saying “do your best and forget the best.”