The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the redevelopment of Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad railway stations at a cost of about Rs 100 billion.

The Minister of Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw, addressed journalists after the decision and said work is underway to redevelopment of 199 stations through the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC). These are stations with a traffic volume of more than 50 lakh passengers per day. Stations with more than 10 lakh daily visitor numbers will be redeveloped in the next phase. “Of these 199 stations, tenders have been issued for 47 stations. Master planning and design for the remaining is underway. Work is progressing rapidly for 32 stations," he said, adding that bids for the stations in Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad will be made within 10 days.

The CCEA's decision is a reversal from an earlier stance taken by the railways, where the stations in Delhi and Mumbai would be developed under public-private partnership (PPP). Later, in March this year, the railways had changed track and decided to redevelop New Delhi Railway Station (NDLS) and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) in Mumbai under a Hybrid Built Operate Transfer (BOT) model in instead of a Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) model that was previously planned.

Vaishnaw said this is being done to control passenger costs.