Vizag Railway Station will soon be revamped in association with a private firm. The station will be redone at a cost of approximately Rs 200 crore.
The renovations are being done by the Union Railway Ministry in a bid to rope in private companies and redevelop station across the country. 23 stations including Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh will soon be redone.
The tenders for the same will be called within a month. The cost of redeveloping 23 stations across the country will be around Rs 4000 crore. The proposals being sent in for Visakhapatnam also include shopping malls, hotels and health arenas. They will be set up at two vacant lands in Jnanapuram, including 1800 sq mt at Convent Junction area and 15,000 sq mts at Sivalayam.
The facilities at the existing station will be developed. The infrastructure will be strengthened with additional platforms, food courts, waiting rooms, solar power facility and more. The proposal has been finalised assessing the future needs for atleast the next 40 years.
The station has two escalators now and two more have been sanctioned. There are two lifts and one more will soon be coming up. Cafeterias and food courts are also lined up. The security seems to be lacking though with only 27 CCTV cameras when 50 is the required number. There is only one scanner at the station even though there are five entry points.
