Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Railways should plan station development and redevelopment projects in a staggered manner over a longer period considering that the priority is funding of programmatic corridors, a key inter-ministerial panel has told the national transporter.It has said that expenditure of station redevelopment should be linked to creation of revenue streams from developed stations, including the provision of levying some user charge. During the annual budget appraisal, the Public Investment Board (PIB) headed by the expenditure secretary has also recommended the roll out of Integrated Station Facility Manager (ISFM) to generate maximum revenue.TOI has learnt that railway board CEO and chairman Satish Kumar informed the inter-ministerial panel that the national transporter, to begin with, will engage ISFM at two stations — Gomtinagar and Chandigarh — and subsequently Safdarjung and Bijwasan in Delhi and Rani Kamlapati stations will also get them. The ISFM agency will be responsible for all housekeeping activities as well as operation and maintenance of the station assets and will earn revenue by monetising or sub-leasing commercial space in the station. Such contracts will be for nine years and can be extended by another three years.As per the minutes of the meeting, the panel has recommended railways to levy “reasonable” user charge for redeveloped railway stations and to also ensure that the revenue from stations after redevelopment is adequate to fund the operation and maintenance expenses of stations.The panel has also recommended railways to take up decongestion of areas outside stations to unlock potential of real estate in and around stations and improve service quality. Railways has been asked to develop an action plan with the housing and urban affairs ministry as this may require changes in Master Plans.
