Underground parking, food plazas, separate terminals for arrival & departure proposed

New Delhi: Indian railways has chosen a French firm to redesign The Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, one of the targets of the 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes, as a world class station.

AREP, a subsidiary of the French Railway (SNCF), will conduct the architectural and feasibility study for redesign and redevelopment of the terminus as world-class station in public-private partnership mode, a senior railway ministry official said.

The French engineering and architectural agency will be paid about Rs 10 crore by the railways for carrying out the study and to suggest a new design for the station, which is a world heritage site, by the end of 2009.

According to the proposed redevelopment plan, the station will undergo a massive transformation with facilities like underground parking, better passenger amenities, food plazas and separate terminal for arrival and departure among others.

The railways has identified 26 stations across the country, which will developed as per international standard.

Besides the Mumbai CST station, New Delhi, Howrah, Agra, Chennai Central, Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Pune, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mathura, Patna, Secunderabad and Thiruvananthapuram railway stations will also be developed as world class stations.

“With most stations built decades ago and the number of passengers increasing rapidly it is important that these stations are upgraded,” said the official.

While the Hongkong-based Terry Farrel has submitted a design for the New Delhi station, railway is considering to seek Chinese help for the redevelopment of Bhubaneshwar and Bangalore stations.

The railways is conducting a traffic study of the area to finalise the redevelopment plan of the New Delhi station.