IRSDC to maintain Secunderabad station

Newly formed entity to be involved in station facility management and maintenance for 15 years

The Secunderabad railway station is one of the most crowded in the country and needs better amenities for passenger comfort.

A renewed attempt to ‘redevelop’ the Secunderabad railway station has been made, with the South Central Railway (SCR) handing over the maintenance part of operations of the premier station to the newly formed Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Limited (IRSDC).

IRSDC is a joint venture company of Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) and IRCON International Limited (IRCON) with the objective of remaking the existing railway stations, without the Indian Railways investing its own funds.

Improving passenger amenities by renovations, platforms, circulating area, etc., are part of the mandate but as of now, the firm will be involved in ‘station facility management and maintenance’ for 15 years. It, in turn, has hired services of another agency to take care of housekeeping, landscaping maintenance, garbage collection, segregation and disposal, help desk, pest control, parking, facilities for disabled, retiring rooms, etc., informed senior officials, requesting anonymity.

IRSDC will be hereafter leasing shops in the station area, advertisements, sale of platform tickets and so on with the SCR authorities handing over the existing sanitation and commercial contracts. “These are baby steps towards having an independent body to take care of overall modernisation of the station. Funds can be raised from outside the railway ambit without waiting for budgeted grants. Also, under the regular set up it is tough to concentrate on the headquarters station alone when we have 744 others to deal with,” explain senior officials.

While the railway unions have already raised a hue and cry about the move charging it is the “first step towards privatisation”, senior officials contend that the sanitation contracts were “outsourced” many years ago. The work is being handled by a railways agency and the current move is Railway Board’s objective to bring “efficiencies” into the system.

Second bid

This is the second attempt to refurbish existing stations because not a single bid was received for redeveloping Secunderabad and Vijaywada stations when they were were called two years ago under the Public, Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

At least five firms had evinced preliminary interest then to develop Secunderabad at an estimated ₹282 crore to have “airport” like separate arrivals, departures, food courts, clean toilets, shops, etc., for 5.62 acres of area in and around the station and 96,243 sq.mts of main building for real estate development.

It was 7.87 acres of land and 61,000 sq. metres of main building estimated at ₹194 crore for Vijaywada station but the “40 years ownership rights offered under the PPP mode was not appealing to private firms,” informed senior officials.

There are plans to redevelop 14 other stations in Telangana through the IRSDC like Hyderabad, Kacheguda, Nizamabad, Kazipet, Mancherial, Ramagundam, Bhadrachalam road, Mahbubabad, Begumpet, Tandur, Vikarabad, Warangal, Khammam and Lingampally as was notified by the Railways Minister Piyush Goyal in the Parliament recently.