Railways plan logistics parks on unused land

Food courts, vegetable marts, banks and shopping-cum-office complexes may soon sprout on unused land along railway stations if the ambitious plan of the railway ministry to earn about Rs 5,000 crore takes off.

Big business houses like Reliance approached the railways. Reliance is keen on setting up fruit and vegetable marts while Pantaloons is looking at the prospect of establishing retail stores.

The railways also propose to develop logistic parks along major stations in the country through public-private participation.

"We have identified some major stations in metro cities, like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Howrah where such parks would come up along the railway stations," Railway Board Chairman J P Batra said.

Giving details about the project, he said, "We will offer our land to private sector for setting up facilities like banks, repair facilities for trucks, godowns, custom facilities."

About the big players showing interest in such public private participation projects, Batra said Siemens, Bombardier, Alstom, Hitachi and L&T had shown interest in the railways' loco manufacturing project.

The basic criteria for setting up such parks is that they should be near national highways and in metros.

Since big cities are also major economic zones, these parks would cater to the growing demand of commercial activities in the cities.