The Indian railways is now looking forward to improve its stations to match with the global standards. The Railways has on August 2, 2012 joined hands with Belgium to carry out the station modernization plans.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Indian Railway Minister Mukul Roy and Deputy Prime Minister of Belgium Didier Reynders on a bilateral co-operation for effective development and modernization of railway sector of both the countries.
Roy after signing the Memorandum of Understanding said, “The MoU will usher in a new era of cooperation between two countries for effective development and modernisation in railway sector”. The Minister added that both the Indian as well as Belgian Railways will benefit with mutual consultation and exchange of information services on the modernization and development of railway stations.
About 50 stations have been identified by the Railways including New Delhi, Howrah, Mumbai, Patna, Bhubaneswar and Chennai for developing world class stations. The railways also have about 30,000 hectares of vacant land and the national transporter is keen to utilise Belgium expertise in the modernization of railways stations. This will also help in the commercialization of the real estate around the stations. Roy shared that the Belgium government owned companies have a lot of experience in terms of development of stations.
