Indian Railways has awarded the Visakhapatnam Railway Station redevelopment project a consortium of Braithwaite and Cognition Projects.
The passenger handling capacity of the redeveloped station will increase to 150,000 from the present capacity of 81,000 per day.
The station will be able to handle 15,000 passengers during the peak hour traffic, said a senior official of the Waltair Division involved with the work. The Waltair Division is implementing the project.
While the total sanctioned cost of the project is Rs 446.41 crore, the tender has been awarded to the consortium at Rs 388.91 crore, according to the division.
There are other upgradation works including external service, street lighting, landscaping, boundary wall involved with the redevelopment of the station which has to be carried out by the division as part of the total project, said the official.
The station will be redeveloped on engineering, procurement and construction mode, keeping the local architecture in mind.
“There will be harmonious and complementary co-existence of the railway terminal and the proposed real estate development,” said the official and added, “We have adopted a self-financing model with monetisation of vacant land/air space for the project.”
The project envisages enhanced passenger safety, comfort and convenience besides facilitating uni-directional passenger flow with effective segregation of arrival and departure.
Steps would be taken for causing least possible inconvenience to the public during construction and to ensure unobstructed movement of passengers.
There will be 24 lifts and 31 escalators, space for podium parking, pedestrian plaza and green area.
A detailed survey work for preparation of the master plan is underway while soil testing is in progress at the site.
No land acquisition is required for the project and the completion target is September 2025.
Adequate and effective inter-platform transfers, employing leading-edge technologies and designing innovative services and solutions, special amenities and services for the old, infirm and physically challenged passengers, management of luggage services/clock rooms are some of the features of the redevelopment project.
The railway colony will also be redeveloped along with the station as part of the master plan.