The Ministry of Railways has a new plan to modernise more than 1,000 smaller stations over the next few years as part of a station redevelopment program. Under the Amrit Bharat station scheme, the station will be equipped with facilities inspired by the massive upgrades of significant stations such as New Delhi and Ahmedabad, albeit at a lower cost.

Key features of these proposed stations include rooftop plazas, more extended platforms, ballastless tracks and 5G connectivity. The scheme will consist of all redevelopment projects that have yet to begin work.

“The scheme aims to develop a master plan for the station and implement it in phases to enhance facilities, including minimum infrastructure, and to build a rooftop plaza and city centre at the station in the long term,” the railway board said in a policy document.

However, the plan and accompanying budget will only be approved based on factors such as footfall and stakeholder input. Regional Rail is responsible for selecting stations, which a committee of senior rail officials approves.

This model envisions low-cost site rebuilds that can be performed promptly. Separate plans for smaller stations are to ensure the modernisation maintains momentum as the ministry focuses on larger projects to upgrade stations in New Delhi, Mumbai (CST) and Ahmedabad, which will take longer, sources said.

While each station has a bespoke cost plan, officials said a rough estimate is Rs 10-20 crore per station for development. The ministry hopes to leverage the participation of private telecom operators to enable 5G connectivity following the recent relaxation of norms related to installing mobile towers on railway land. Additionally, all these stations will be equipped with accessible Wi-Fi facilities and escalators for easy movement.

The scheme is to relocate redundant/old buildings cost-effectively so that space is freed up for higher priority activities related to occupants and future development can proceed smoothly.

Given that the stations are intended to expedite redevelopment, Rail wants to ensure that land acquisition and construction obstacles are apparent. “Construction of new buildings should generally be avoided unless it is necessary to relocate old buildings or relocate buildings to improve circulation or provide structure to increase the area of ​​waiting halls,” the Railway Board instructed Regional Railways.

Rooftop plazas are an attempt by the national transport company to ease congestion at the station. Traditionally, all station facilities have been developed on the platforms or off the station grounds. The new model borrows from international stations to use the platforms mainly to get on and off and use these roof plazas entirely for modern facilities.