The Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) has awarded the tender for redevelopment of Chandigarh Railway Station. The station will be upgraded on EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) model at an approx. cost of INR 462 crores. The redevelopment work is expected to be completed within 15 months. The station upgradation is a lighthouse project and will be upgraded in modular concept. The tender has been awarded to Ahluwalia Contracts (India) Pvt Ltd.
Ved Parkash Dudeja, Vice Chairman, RLDA inspected and reviewed the progress of the project and shared “RLDA has awarded the tender for the redevelopment of the Chandigarh Railway station. Chandigarh will soon have a world-class redeveloped railway station with passenger amenities comparable to those found in international airports. The upgraded station will not only contribute to the city’s infrastructure growth story, but will also integrate the two sides of the city, providing a new terminal for Panchkula side and a roof plaza. The redeveloped station will act like a new City Centre and play an important role in the city’s overall development.
The primary goals of station upgrades are to provide passengers with best-in-class amenities and to improve their travel experience. The redeveloped Chandigarh station will have separate arrival and departure areas to provide passengers with a comfortable and convenient travel experience. 72 meter wide roof plaza is being provided over the platforms with food plaza and retail shops where passengers can wait for their trains in comfortable ambience. Two state of the art foot over bridges (FOBs) will also be built to ensure smooth passenger movement. The redeveloped railway station will be integrated with other modes of transportation wherever possible and will be upgraded in a unifying grid system to ensure structural modularity.
The upgraded station will include state-of-the-art lobbies, a food court, a paid lounge, an enquiry counter, and some office and retail space. Chandigarh Junction railway station serves the tri-city of Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula, and is a part of the Northern Railway zone’s Ambala Division.
The Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) is a statutory authority within the Ministry of Railways responsible for railway land development. As part of its development strategy has four key mandates: commercial leasing sites, colony redevelopment, station redevelopment, and multi-functional complexes. During the current Financial Year, RLDA has leased out fifteen sites which are situated at Bangalore and Raichur (Karnataka), Liluah and Salt Golah (Howrah), Nizamabad (Telangana), Waltax Road and Egmore (Chennai), Bhopal (MP), Ludhiana (Punjab), Abu Road (Rajasthan), Bhusawal and Solapur (Maharashtra), Bareilly, Varanasi and Gorakhpur in UP for a cumulative lease premium of Rs. 1633 Crore plus Railway assets valuing approx. Rs. 226 Crore shall be developed in Bangalore, Bhopal, Egmore (Chennai), Bareilly and Ludhiana Railway Colonies.