Under PPP, facelift for Bengaluru Cantonment and Yeshwanthpur stations

Bengaluru: They have an old world charm, but now the Bengaluru Cantonment and Yeshwanthpur railways stations are in for a major makeover with the railways readying to develop them under a Public Private Partnership basis.

The stations will be given to the highest private bidders and could see retail stores, hotels, office spaces, concourses, escalators, passenger lounges, WiFi, ATMs and much more come up in their campuses.

" Tenders will be called for an estimated investment of Rs 80 crore in the Bengaluru Cantonment station and Rs 100 crore in the Yeshwanthpur station. Station Facilitation Managers will work as contractors and pay a lease of 45 years to the Railways," said a railways press note on Wednesday.

Engineer Lakshman Singh of the Bengaluru division of South Western Railway said it was using the Swiss challenge method of tendering, starting from July 21. "Private bidders are expected to come forward with a business model of what they want to do with the stations and then a second round will be held for financial bidding," he explained

While transport expert, Sanjeev Dyamnavar believes the plan will fetch the railways revenue through commercial leasing of the stations, he says there are bigger problems of station congestion, capacity constraints and outdated technology, which need to be addressed as well. "The private players won't actually be contributing to redevelopment," he claimed.

The Cantonment and Yeshwanthpur stations are among 23 stations across the country that have been selected for the Station Redevelopment and Commercialisation programme The Cabinet also recently approved setting up a Railway Development Authority, an independent body to regulate passenger fares and freight charges. It will be formed by August 31. CPRO Vijaya, explains that privatization of tracks is only for freight and not passenger trains.