Railway board shuts down RLDA-RITES-Ircon JV on Sanjeev Sanyal's advice

Station modernisation and redevelopment goes back to Zonal Railways

The Indian Railways Station Development Corporation (IRSDC), a joint venture between Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES), and Indian Railway Construction (Ircon) is being shut down.

RLDA has 50 per cent stake, Ircon has 26 per cent and RITES has 24 per cent. IRSDC was initially a JV between Ircon and RLDA. Ircon sold part of its stake to RITES in 2020 for Rs 48 crore. IRSDC was tasked with the responsibility of implementing and monitoring station modernisation projects.

According to an order from the Railway Board, all stations managed by IRSDC shall be handed over to the respective Zonal Railways. Projects at the planning stage will be taken forward by the Zonal Railways. This was the approach adopted before the formation of IRSDC in 2012.

IRSDC oversaw the completion of the Habibganj and Gandhi Nagar station modernisation projects. According to the IRSDC website, the modernisation of the Bijwasan railway station is an ongoing project. It had been working on nearly 60 railway stations at different levels, ranging from addition of services, pruning of existing facilities, to complete modernisation.

This shuttering decision is in line with the recommendations by Sanjeev Sanyal, the current Principal Economic Advisor to the Ministry of Finance, under which all stations entrusted to IRSDC for redevelopment were to be handed back to the respective zonal railways. His recommendations have been backed by the Union Cabinet and directions have been issued to the Railway Board to implement them from September onwards. The Railway Board was also instructed to intimate the Union Cabinet about the actions taken on these recommendations on the 5th of every month.

This is the second Railway body that is being shut down in recent times. The Indian Railways Organisation for Alternative Fuel (IROAF) was shut down on September 7. This too was as per directives of Sanyal that have been listed under his report on Rationalisation of Government Bodies, Proposal for Ministry of Railways.