Investors cold to world class railway stations

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BANGALORE: Lack of interest on the part of private investors in the proposed World Class Railway Stations in different parts of th..

BANGALORE: Lack of interest on the part of private investors in the proposed World Class Railway Stations in different parts of the country has forced the Railway Board to rethink and scale down the infrastructure that was planned for these stations.
South Western Railways general manager Kuldeep Chaturvedi said that the railways does not have sufficient funds to undertake the world class railway station projects on its own and the private investors have not come forward to invest in them. Therefore the board has decided to scale down the infrastructure and is in the process of redoing the plans.When asked about the proposed world class railway station at Baiyappanahalli, Chaturvedi said that the state government had asked us to pay `200 crore for the required land and we were not in a position to do so. Therefore we had invited private investors, and as the cost of the project was too high, there were no takers. Unless we get a private investor it is practically not possible to undertake the project in the immediate future.

According to the original estimates, the world class railway station at Baiyappanahalli was expected to cost `2,000 crore. According to sources, the Railway is planning to scale down the infrastructure to reduce the project cost to less than `1,500 crore in its efforts to get a private investor. The Board is also scaling down the infrastructure of the proposed world class railway station in New Delhi to drastically reduce the cost, which stands at `16,000 crore.

It takes at least four to five years to complete a world class railway station. As the rail traffic has reached the maximum manageable limits in Bangalore city railway station and is nearly reaching the manageable limits at Yeshwantpur railway station, it will be difficult to introduce new trains to the city in the near future unless a third station is constructed.