Surat Railway Station To Get Airport-Like Facilities By 2020: Officials

New Delhi: Surat railway station will get "airport-like" facilities by 2020 under a railway ministry's programme, officials have said. The Rs 5,000 crore project includes a bus terminal and parking space for 900 vehicles, they said.

Surat railway station will be the third in the country and the second in Gujarat after Gandhinagar to be developed as a world-class facility under the railway ministry's station redevelopment programme, the officials said.

SITCO has asked interested parties to send their proposals to build a transport hub at Surat railway station, the officials said. 

SITCO is a joint venture between the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Ltd (IRSDC), Surat Municipal Corporation, and Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation.

"It is an unique project, in which three levels of government have come together to redevelop the station. The centre, the state as well as the urban local body will pool land together, which is a first. The construction will start this year," IRSDC managing director SK Lohia said.

The total area of the station will be over 3,19,700 square metres (sqm) and the built-up area will be 57,739 sqm, with a concourse of 9,825 sqm. The area under commercial development would be 5,07,054 sqm.
 The station would be a multi-modal transport hub with a bus terminal having a built-up area of 40,724 sqm, Mr Lohia said. The station is likely to see over three lakh people daily, the officer said.

The country's first two world-class stations -- Habibganj and Gandhinagar -- will be ready by the beginning of 2019.

Habibganj railway station will redeveloped by December 2018, six months in advance than its scheduled deadline of June 2019, while Gandhinagar station, with a five-star hotel atop the tracks, will be completed by January 2019.

The IRSDC is mandated to redevelop some 800 railway stations across the country at an estimated cost of Rs 1 trillion, the officials said.

With inputs from PTI