South Central Railway plans Rs.1000 Crore Greenfield Satellite Terminals at Nagulapalli & Cherlapalli

South Central Railway plans Rs.1000 Crore Greenfield Satellite Terminals at Nagulapalli & Cherlapalli

Ravindra Gupta, GM, SCR, said that this is the first greenfield project in the state, which would involve the state government and a private player, besides Indian Railways. They will form a vital part of the overall plan to enhance Greater Hyderabad’s civic infrastructure

Secunderabad: As part of expanding infrastructural facilities, the South Central Railway (SCR) zone of Indian Railways is working on a proposal to create the first greenfield satellite terminal at Nagulapally in Medak district of Telangana through the public-partnership-private (PPP) mode. The initiative, which is claimed to be the first of its kind, would entail an investment of about Rs 1,000 crore.

Ravindra Gupta, GM, SCR, said that this is the first greenfield project in the state, which would involve the state government and a private player, besides Indian Railways. One of the focus areas of the South Central Railway (SCR) is to currently collaborate actively with the Telangana State Government and start work on creating a Greenfield terminal at Nagulapalli to the west of Greater Hyderabad at an estimated cost of Rs. 1,000 crore. “We are talking to the Telangana government for about 300 acres of land for the satellite terminal, having over 10 platforms for easing congestion,” he said. “We are still working on the modalities as the estimated investment is about Rs.1,000 crore,” he added.

SCR, which stands fifth in terms of freight and eighth in passenger movement across 16 zones of Indian Railways, has reported passenger earnings of Rs.4,275 crore as against Rs.4,011 crore registered last year, and degrowth in freight earnings of Rs.10,120 crore as against Rs.10,778 crore.

“We will give top priority to creating infrastructural facilities to strengthen safety and to increase the line and terminal capacities so as to enable running of more passenger and freight trains,” he said.

Incidentally, SCR was sanctioned an amount of Rs.2,856 crore for 2016-17 for infrastructure development. For new lines, the budgetary grant is Rs.1,209 crore. For doubling and electrification works, an amount of Rs.830 crore was sanctioned as part of the Budget outlay for 2016-17.

Further, SCR is also talking to the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments for forming special purpose vehicles (SPVs) to facilitate new projects and expand existing ones. “We have signed MoUs with both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments and have also appointed SBI Caps as consultants to develop articles of associations. The report is expected in a month’s time and the SPV model can become a game changer for specific projects,” he said.

“My objective is to make the State Government agree to the Nagulapalli terminal and allot the 300 acres that I need. The Railway Board has approved both the projects as coaching terminals. This is of significance keeping in mind the growing needs of rail users of Hyderabad and the new terminals, once completed, will form a vital part of the overall plan to enhance Greater Hyderabad’s civic infrastructure,” said SCR General Manager Ravindra Gupta.

‘Need to start work on PPP mode’

“We need to start work on the public-private partnership mode with active cooperation of the State and the sooner the better because the three existing terminals of Secunderabad, Hyderabad and Kacheguda are taking a heavy load of passenger traffic,” he said, during an interaction with select media here on Wednesday.

Mr. Gupta said SCR was in talks with Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Governments for special purpose vehicles (SPVs) and facilitating new projects and expand existing ones.

Meanwhile, Indian Railways, through the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC), has prepared a draft framework of rules for developers who wish to undertake contracts for re-development of 400 railways stations across the country by inviting open bids. As part of this move, SCR has identified about 36 stations for redevelopment under the PPP model.

“A consultant is likely to be appointed before September and have uploaded land recordings for about 27 stations,” he said. It is learnt that infrastructure majors including L&T, GVK and others have expressed interest for the re-development of stations.

The re-development is through open invitation from interested parties with their designs and business ideas, including permitting commercial development of real estate by the zonal railways. The ‘A-1’ and ‘A’ category stations will be offered for re-development by inviting open bids from interested parties. These stations are to be developed by leveraging real estate development of land and air space in and around the stations.

The re-development of stations will foster a plethora of large transit-oriented developments (TOD) across the country, possibly resulting in the largest TOD undertaking in the world and thereby leading to higher transit ridership.

This way, Indian Railways can efficiently monetise its land parcels, particularly in cities with higher densities, by commercially exploiting existing railway stations through sale of space rights over them, Anuj Puri, chairman & country head, JLL India, said.