General Manager of Southern Railway R.N. Singh has ordered the agency in charge of transforming the Puducherry railway station into a cutting-edge rail terminal to move the project along as quickly as possible.
Mr Singh, who was accompanied by Southern Railway representatives, gave a presentation outlining the project’s scope and scale.
The $72 million project calls for modernising the Puducherry railway station with features like congestion-free, non-conflicting entry and exit to the station premises, segregating passenger arrival and departure, adequate concourses without being overcrowded, integrating both sides of the city whenever it is practical, integrating with other transportation systems like the bus and user-friendly international signage.
It contains allowances for differently abled people, the harmonious coexistence of train station and real estate developments, green buildings and other features based on the Design, Build, Finance, Operate, Transfer (DBFOT) model.
The concept calls for leveraging commercial development of available railway land and airspace in and around the station to recover the full cost of redevelopment.