PUNE: The Pune junction is among 23 railway stations scheduled to be revamped soon with city-based company BVG India Limited being awarded the contract by the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC).
The Railway Board has identified 15 key parameters, including separate arrival and departure terminals, easy connectivity with local modes of transportation, such as bus or Metro and accessibility from both sides of the city. Facilities such as food courts, retail outlets and medical facilities will also be made available.
“The redevelopment of Pune junction will start soon. The IRSDC has given the contract to BVG company for three years. The company will be responsible for facility management. Except for the ticketing and operations of trains, the group will maintain and operate the station as well for three years,” said Milind Deouskar, Divisional Railway Manager, Pune, during a media interaction on Wednesday.
Under the project, real estate development of land and airspace belonging to the Railways will be done. The private partner can exploit the space for commercial purposes. Redevelopment is on ‘as is where is’, through an open invitation from interested parties with their designs and ideas.
The estimated cost of redevelopment of Pune railway station is Rs 200 crore. The other stations scheduled for remodelling include Thane, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, Mumbai Central, Bandra and Borivali. The redevelopment of stations is undergoing to transform the concourse areas into airport-like swanky retail spaces where passengers can await their trains.
ALL SET TO REVAMP
- The Pune junction yard remodelling work has started.
- It will be completed by March 2019. After that, the capacity of all six platforms will be of 26 coaches.
- Only platform number 1 has a capacity of 26-coach rake.
- For the freight trains, two new lines have been developed at Ghorpardi station.
- The junction will get five more elevators - two at Tadiwala Road, two at PRS (on platform number one) and one (only from platform to foot-over bridge) at platform number two.
- Due to the water problem in the city, the railway has developed a water pipeline from Ghorpadi to Pune junction, with a capacity of 3 lakh litre per day.
- The new upper-class waiting room will be ready by January 2019 with the capacity of 40 seats.
