New Delhi Railway Station Redevelopment: L&T Emerges As Lowest Bidder Quoting Rs 8,740 Crore Against RLDA's Estimates At Rs 5,000 Crore

Indian infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has emerged as the lowest bidder quoting Rs 8,740 crore for the re-development of New Delhi railway station, exceeding the Indian Railways estimate of Rs 5,000 crore.

Only two firms — L& T and Shapoorji Pallonji — submitted the bids for the New Delhi station re-development project last month.

After technical evaluation, the financial bid was opened by the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) and L&T was revealed to be the lowest bidder.

Since the lowest bidder has quoted a price exceeding the estimated cost, the Railways has to decide on the issue by exploring various options.

In September 2022, the Union Cabinet sanctioned Rs 10,000 crore for the redevelopment of three major railway stations — New Delhi, Ahmedabad, and CSMT in Mumbai.

While Rs 5,000 crore was meant for the New Delhi station, Rs 1,800 crore was earmarked for CSMT and Rs 3,000 crore for the Ahmedabad station.

The Railways will now either seek Cabinet approval again for a higher price or decide itself without going to Cabinet.

Given that the Railways Ministry is empowered as a competent authority for executing the project, it can decide on the issue without going to the Cabinet, sources in the Railways said.

It is learnt that the concerned authorities are examining the bids closely before deciding on the next course of action. The issue is expected to be resolved this month, sources added.

Getting all due permission from the land-owning agency, civic authorities, and city government were a major hurdle for the New Delhi station project, and the tender was discharged in 2008-09. In 2001-02, it just did not get work sanction.

The project is part of the Centre’s plan to modernise most high-density stations, to ease passenger movement and improve the business prospects of these assets.

The mega project involves replacing the existing structure with a twin dome-shaped facade at New Delhi station.

Once completed, it would be an iconic structure to be identified with the Capital city of India.

The project to be executed on the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) model has attracted interest from various national and international stakeholders.

The redevelopment project is expected to play an instrumental role in augmenting the local economy, generating employment opportunities and boosting the tourism potential of Delhi-NCR.

The New Delhi station handles 400 trains per day with about 450,000 footfalls daily.

New Delhi Railway Station is the terminal station for most rail routes going towards East and South. The station is connected to New Delhi-Mumbai Main Line, New Delhi-Chennai Main Line, and Howrah-Gaya-Delhi Line.

The station serves as the main hub for the Rajdhani Express and is both the starting and ending point of the Shatabdi Express.