HYDERABAD: The plans to redevelop the Secunderabad Railway Station under the Station Redevelopment Programme on public-private partnership would get delayed by few more weeks as the last date of receipt of applications and opening of bids has been extended to June 29 from May 24.
Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu unveiled the first phase of the programme covering 23 stations during Feb 2017.
This covers Secunderabad and Vijayawada on South Central Railway. As many as five firms - Purvankara Projects Ltd, Sthopes, CBRE South India Pvt Ltd, IL&FS Township, and GMR Ltd - had bid for the project.
These bidders, after inspecting the Secunderabad Railway Station, sought a month’s time for submitting the final bids. SCR General Manager Vinod Kumar Yadav said that initially there was some confusion among the bidders regarding the project as it is a new concept for Railways. He said it would be difficult for a single company to handle the project and a consortium needs to be formed.
“The idea behind the programme is to develop the station by international standards,” he added. The estimated investment for development of passenger amenities at Secunderabad station is `282 crore, while for Vijayawada it is `194 crore.
The revenue generated through the project will be used exclusively for station redevelopment. The project is being undertaken under a Modified Swiss Challenge method, adapting the Quality and Cost-based Solution (QCBS) system by identifying a project proponent who will prepare the detailed project report.
The project will involve various stake holders, TS government, central government wings, experts etc, he added.
SCR aims big for 2017-18
Hyderabad: The SCR has set ambitious targets for infrastructure development and capacity enhancement for current financial year 2017-18. Under capacity enhancement, new railway lines will be laid for a length of 157.44 km, tracks will be doubled for 80 km, 588-km track will be electrified and 132 unmanned level crossings will be removed.
NEW LINES: On Friday, SCR GM Vinod Kumar Yadav, along with chief public relations officer M Umashankar Kumar, hinted at a survey for laying six new railway lines in a joint venture with state. The lines are Manoharabad-Kothapalli (151.36 km), Manuguru-Ramagundam (200 km), Bhadrachalam Road-Sattupalli (56.25 km), Gadwal-Macherla (184.2 km), Bodhan-Bidar (100 km) and Secunderabad- Zaheerabad (63.5 km).
AMENITIES: As many as 18 stations have been developed as Adarsh stations and 10 station buildings given facelift. Foot overbridges have been built at 22 stations and washable aprons provided at 18 stations. Platforms have been extended at 19 stations among other achievements.
ONLINE SERVICES: Introduction of user-friendly mobile app Hyderabad Live Train Enquiry System to know real time running status of MMTS trains in city has been a major success. A mobile app Railway Interactive Security Solutions for travellers Assistance was introduced for passengers’ security on MMTS and WiFi has been introduced at nine stations.