Hotels, hospitals near ring railway stations in Delhi

REVAMP Station areas to be used for commercial uses

NEW DELHI: In a major push to the 43-year-old ring rail system in Delhi, a railway body has sought to develop the stations on the network into commercial hubs.

The ring rail system was constructed in 1975 for carrying goods, and started running passenger trains during the 1982 Asian Games. Delhi has 35 km of ring rail network, which is grossly under-utilised with 21 stations and only 4,000 passengers daily.

The Indian Railway Station Development Corporation (IRSDC), nodal agency to redevelop stations across the country, has asked the Railway board to handover the suburban stations in Delhi to them for commercial exploitation under the public private partnership model.

Some of the stations which might be turned into commercial hubs are Lajpat Nagar, Lodi Colony, Sarojini Nagar, Safdarjung and Chanakyapuri. It is expected that the development will also revive the ring rail system. In February, rail minister Piyush Goyal had announced plans to integrate the ring rail network with the Metro stations in order to optimise their use and unclog the Capital.

IRSDC said once they get the approval, they will study the scope of commercial development and accordingly a construction plan will be prepared.

“Once we get the approval, we will undertake a detailed study. We don’t want to overtake the main stations such as New Delhi, Old Delhi and Nizamuddin. But there are stations which are not utilised enough and can be explored for commercial activities. Depending on the area available along with the railway station, a plan to develop facilities can be prepared,” said SK Lohia, Managing Director of IRSDC.

The Railways is also looking at creating a bypass for freight trains to reduce the load on tracks that ferry passengers. Some freight trains also use the ring rail network and once the bypass is created, the frequency on the ring rail can be improved.

The railway board has already empowered IRSDC to redevelop stations on PPP mode. The ministry has decided to allow residential and commercial structure on railway land near stations.