In News :

Context :

• Eleven railway stations under Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR), including five in Assam, have been identified for the upgradation to airport-like standards as part of the Railway’s Rs 1 lakh crore station redevelopment programme.
• Stations in Assam include Guwahati, Kamakhya, Lumding, New Tinsukia and Dibrugarh.
• The other stations under NFR which made it to the list include Katihar, Purnea, Kishanganj, Barsoi, Dimapur and Agartala.
• Station Redevelopment Programme:
• Station Redevelopment Programme is the biggest non-fare revenue generating programme being undertaken by Indian Railways.
• Financial Model of the programme: It will be executed in a public-private-partnership (PPP) model through a fair bidding system.
• Government will not incur any expenditure as the developer will be rebuilding the railway stations and maintaining it for 15 years.
• In return, the developer would be granted 45 years’ leasing rights for the commercial properties developed at these stations. These properties could be hotels, malls, hospitals, among others.
• Selection Process: These stations will be awarded to private developers under the so called Swiss challenge method. It involves inviting proposal online and allowing rival bidders to beat that proposal.
• Amenities at Revamped stations: escalators, elevators, digital signage, self ticketing counters, executive lounges, walkways, luggage screening machines, free and paid WiFi, etc.
• Commercial potential of the vacant Railway land at and near the stations will be leveraged to develop world-class stations.

Significance :

• The entire programme is estimated to attract investment of upto Rs 1 lakh crore from the developers.
• It will help Railways will generate a surplus of Rs 10,000 crore which can be invested in other modernisation programmes.
• Most of the pension funds in the world and a multilateral agency like World Bank are keen to participate in this project. It will benefit more than 100 cities and 16 million passengers per day across the country.