With the aim of speeding up station redevelopment programme, Indian Railways has floated tenders worth Rs 5,000 crore for 14 stations on EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) mode.

Discarding the public private partnership model, the railways has selected 53 stations in the first phase across the country to be redeveloped in EPC mode to expedite the work in a fixed timeline.

Since it was taking longer to execute redevelopment work in the PPP model, it has been decided to go for EPC mode, said a senior Railway Ministry official.

Tenders have been floated for Gwalior station for an estimated cost of Rs 500 crore, Lucknow station for Rs 475 crore, Tirupati station for Rs 313 crore and Gaya station for Rs 300 crore.

While Ghaziabad station redevelopment tender is pegged at Rs 375 crore, Gandhinagar Jaipur is slated to be around Rs 200 crore and Puri station is estimated to be about Rs 175 crore.

Kanyakumari, Ernakulam in Kerala and Dhankariya Talab station in Kota are among 14 stations for which tenders have been floated inviting developers to redevelop the stations in anticipation of increased footfalls in the next few years.

Stations like Tirupati, Gaya, Puri, Lucknow, Gwalior and Kanyakumari among others are selected for the redevelopment to tap the huge potential of tourism in these areas.

According to the traffic projection carried out by the railways, with the increased number of trains and improved connectivity, the footfalls of these stations are going to multiply in future.

The redevelopment project envisages providing modern amenities for passengers at stations. The total of 53 stations selected in the first phase envisages investment of about Rs 15,000 crore.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is slated to the lay foundation stone for station redevelopment projects in Tamil Nadu and Kerala during his visit on 26 May.