Indian Railways’ Bhubaneswar railway station to become world-class! In the coming years, Odisha’s Bhubaneswar railway station will be completely redeveloped into a first-of-its-kind multi-modal transport hub. Conceptualised as a swanky infrastructure project, the entire redevelopment exercise will upgrade the Bhubaneswar railway station and the area around it into a transport hub that matches global standards and offers seamless connectivity between different modes of travel. The Bhubaneswar railway station redevelopment project will be carried out jointly by the Ministry of Railways and the Odisha state government, adopting the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model. The Odisha government is also planning to develop the adjoining area of the station into a multi-modal transport hub under the Smart City Mission. The project will be divided into two phases and is expected to be completed in three years.
Bhubaneswar railway station redevelopment project: Salient facts
The new multi-modal hub will have a new railway station building, a mixed-use tower, a convention or retail centre and a public plaza area. The hub will also have a city bus terminal, public car parking along with other allied utilities. The overall project will have 2 components;
Public Infrastructure development at Rs 300 crore. This would include;
- New railway station terminal building
- City bus terminal
- Public car park
- Dedicated lanes for taxis, auto-rickshaws and other vehicles for pick-up/drop off
- Innovative elements like theatre plaza, art plaza and children’s plaza along with food courts
The second component will be the Mixed-Use Real Estate at a cost of Rs 540 crore. This will have an iconic city square with a centrally located high rise tower which can be used for commercial and retail purposes, for a hotel and service apartments.
The Bhubaneswar railway station itself will have a new terminal building and two new railway lines along with platforms. The station area will be owned, used and maintained by East Coast Railway. The railway station building will have five floors apart from the ground. Two floors out of these five and the ground floor will be for the use of Indian Railways. The total area that will be earmarked for the use by Indian Railways will be 1.74 lakh square feet. According to information shared with Financial Express Online, the all-new Bhubaneswar railway station building will have all modern passenger amenities with an aim to offer a completely new experience to the Indian Railways passengers. The initial work will involve an investment of Rs 130 crore, out of which Rs 70 crore will be spent by Indian Railways and Rs 60 crore by the state government.
Source: https://www.financialexpress.com