Railways developing 400 'A-1' & 'A' category stations: Suresh Prabhu

New Delhi: Railways have planned to redevelop about 400 'A-1' and 'A' category stations, including Delhi, with private participation, Lok Sabha was informed today.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said the Railways have advertised its plan for about 400 'A-1' and 'A' category stations which are generally located in major cities and important tourist destinations on 'as is where is' basis for
redevelopment.

He said during Question Hour that the process has been started by inviting proposals from interested parties with their designs and business ideas.
Prabhu said the entire cost of the station redevelopment is to be met by leveraging commercial development of spare railway land/air space in and around the station.

"The process is designed to be completely transparent and to obtain best in class designs from developer. The programme is conceived to be cash-neutral to the Railways, rather it is expected to yield earnings for the Railways in the form of premium submitted by the developers," he said.

The Minister said as many as 1,253 railway stations have been identified for upgradation by the Indian Railways under the ongoing 'Adarsh station' scheme.

"Till date, 1,253 railway stations have been identified under 'Adarsh station' scheme, of which 1,022 stations have already been developed," he said.

The Minister said more stations may be considered for inclusion under the scheme whenever there is any proposal for further selection of more stations under this scheme, based on their relative importance and justification based on
passengers handled there.