Redevelopment of Railway Stations: A green signal for the overall economy and real estate
Indian Railways is among the world’s largest rail network serving approx. 23 million travellers every day. Major part of the existing rail network has been in existence since the pre-independence era and deserves to be reimagined to keep up with the demands of New India.
In this context, Indian Railways has embarked on a much needed and exciting endeavour to redevelop significant railway stations in India’s major cities to provide enhanced travel experiences to its passengers with a view to modernize and future proof these important travel nodes. Agencies such as the RLDA, IRCON, IRSDC, etc. have been actively engaged in this process and have already identified 62 stations across the country for redevelopment and privatization.
This provides a tremendous opportunity to reshape the urban landscape of the country, setting up exemplary Transit-oriented-development (TOD) projects in Tier-1 cities and catalysing development in various Tier 2 and Tier 3 locations across the country.
Interestingly, the focus is not only to develop the rail side facilities and amenities, which are of course extremely essential but also to develop the cityside amenities to commercially utilize excessive land holdings available in some of these stations.
