India’s South Western Railway (SWR) is set to spend $63m (Rs5.25bn) for the redevelopment of the Bengaluru Cantonment rail station in the state of Karnataka.
The station will be redeveloped in two phases to meet the transportation requirements of the Bengaluru.
Varindera Construction secured the contract for the project, which is planned to be completed in 36 months.
Under the first phase, SWR will invest $5.4m (Rs450m) to remodel the yard. It will include the construction of two additional island platforms and three additional lines to facilitate the operation of trains from/to this station besides reducing the burden on KSR Bengaluru station.
The remodelled yard will be linked with the suburban railway network to enable seamless mass transportation. It will also construct a foot-over bridge to connect Borebank Road to Netaji Road.
As part of the second phase, SWR will spend $50.4m (Rs4.2bn) to redevelop the Cantonment station building into a world-class airport-like terminal.
It will be redeveloped as a ‘city centre’ to be used for commercial activities round the clock, in addition to transportation.
Major developments will include the construction of a fully air-conditioned 216m wide air-concourse and segregated arrival/departure points to avoid congestion, as well as G+5 multi-level parking.
A roof plaza over the platforms will be built to provide space for commercial activities, including retail outlets, food courts and an infotainment zone.
The developments also include a green building with rainwater harvesting system, a “divyang-friendly” station with Braille maps, ramps, lifts and a subway for differently-abled passengers.
Its other features include seamless multi-modal integration with local public transport and a well-demarcated pick-up/drop zone.
