The Gandhinagar railway station is being completely redeveloped under Piyush Goyal-led Indian Railways big plan for stations. One unique feature that will set apart the newly revamped Gandhinagar station in Gujarat is that it will be the first in India to have a 5-star hotel above the railway tracks! “This is a known international practice, but in India, Gandhinagar will be the first railway station to have a 5-star facility above the tracks,” VK Yadav, Chairman Railway Board told . “We have allowed for pillars to come on the tracks to form the ceiling which will allow for the hotel to be constructed on top,” Yadav said.
The 5-star hotel, which will be run by the Leela Group, is expected to be completed by December 2020. “It’s a unique model, the design has been made in a way that no vibrations or noise from the trains on the tracks below will be felt by the occupants of the hotel,” Yadav said. “The prime objective of redeveloping Indian Railways is to provide world-class facilities and experience to passengers without the national transporter having to spend money,” Yadav added.
The 5-star hotel will have over 300 rooms with the ground floor 22 metres above the ground. The entire Gandhinagar station will have 3 towers that will give the impression of petals from an aerial view. The three towers will have 6, 8 and 10 levels with the hotel making the station one of the tallest buildings in the city.
The Gandhinagar railway station will have a revamped station building with concourse areas that will boast retail shops, food courts etc for the comfort of passengers. The airport-style retail model will also help generate revenue for Indian Railways. A dedicated transit hall will be made to seat as many as 600 passengers. For the retail areas, IRSDC is already in talks with big brands such as Shoppers Stop and Big Bazaar, as reported by Financial Express Online earlier.
Indian Railways has embarked on the ambitious project of redeveloping railway stations into airport-style world-class transit hubs. Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation or IRSDC has been entrusted with this task and the private sector is being actively roped in to revamp stations and the areas around them into commercial hubs.
The Gandhinagar railway station is being redeveloped by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) – Gandhinagar Railway & Urban Development Corporation Ltd (GARUD) – between IRSDC and the Gujarat state government.