ER to float EOIs for Howrah modernization

Kolkata: Eastern Railway(ER) will float expressions of interest(EOIs) for roping in consultants to design the modernisation of the Howrah station in a few month's time.

Howrah is one of the first seven of the 22 stations identified in all by the Indian Railways for modernisation, informed railway offcials.

The Planning Commission had asked the Railways to only define the broad parameters while the technical, legal and financial consultants were to be roped in for the detailed work.

The mega project was likely to cost around Rs 4,000 crore, informed a senior offcial at the Eastern Railway. ER had a capital outaly of over Rs 550 crore for the current financial year for various projects.

Technical bids were already invited for New Delhi, Patna and Secundrabad stations. Howrah station, that handles a passenger load of around seven lakh per day, has, however, lagged behind.

The tentative list of stations to be modernised includes New Delhi, Chhatrapati Shivaji Station (Mumbai), Howrah, Chennai Central, Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Mathura, Pune, Patna, Secunderabad and Thiruvananthapuram among others.