Bids invited to setup Rail Arcade at Bengaluru, Chandigarh stations
What's the story
Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Ltd. (IRSDC) on Friday said it has invited bids for setting up and maintaining a "Rail Arcade" at the Bengaluru's Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna Railway Station and Chandigarh Railway Station for a period of nine years. The objective of this initiative is to provide best-in-class amenities to passengers and boost their travel experience, it said.
Initiative
Rail Arcade is envisaged as mini-city center with retail facilities
The Rail Arcade is envisaged as a mini-city center with food and beverage, entertainment, leisure, and retail facilities. "It's a part of IRSDC's overall mandate to undertake the Facility Management of five railway stations across India- KSR Bengaluru, Pune, Anand Vihar, Chandigarh, and Secunderabad," IRSDC has said in a release. Demand-oriented design, excellent quality, etc, will be the hallmarks of this initiative, it added.
Benefits
Rail Arcade will fuel commercial activities: IRSDC MD and CEO
"It'll enable passengers to utilize their mundane waiting time and turn it into leisure hours, and they'll look forward to visiting these stations," IRSDC MD and CEO SK Lohia said. "As an integrated facility, Rail Arcade will fuel commercial activities and will be a formidable step in transforming railway stations into RAILOPOLIS, an integrated mini smart city to work, play, and ride," he added.
Facilities
These are the proposed facilities at Rail Arcade
Some of the proposed facilities at Rail Arcade include Food & Beverage (F&B), Passenger Convenience store, Gifts, Books & Magazine, Handloom & Artefacts, Consumer goods kiosks, including FMCG and pharmaceutical. The concessionaire will be mandated to take over the identified space and undertake the remodeling of the entire area. Shortly, IRSDC will be undertaking facility management of 90 more stations in a phased manner.