IRSDC invites bids to set-up Rail Arcade at Bengaluru and Chandigarh railway stations

Bengaluru: Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Ltd. (IRSDC) on Friday said it has invited bids for setting up and maintaining a ‘Rail Arcade’ at the city’s Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna Railway Station and Chandigarh Railway Station for a period of nine years.

The objective of this initiative is to provide best-in-class amenities to passengers and boost their travel experience, it said. The Rail Arcade is envisaged as a mini-city centre with food and beverage, entertainment, leisure and retail facilities.

It is a part of IRSDC’s overall mandate to undertake the Facility Management of five railway stations across India- KSR Bengaluru, Pune, Anand Vihar, Chandigarh and Secunderabad, IRSDC in a release said.

Demand-oriented design, excellent quality, safety and security, innovative offerings, attractive revenue generation model and sustainability will be the hallmarks of this initiative, it added.

”It will enable passengers to utilize their mundane waiting time and turn it into leisure hours, and they will look forward to visiting these stations. As an integrated facility, Rail Arcade will fuel commercial activities and will be a formidable step in transforming railway stations into a RAILOPOLIS- an integrated mini smart city to ‘Work, Play and Ride’,” IRSDC MD and CEO S K Lohia said.

Some of the proposed facilities at the Rail Arcade include Food & Beverage (F&B), Passenger Convenience store, Gifts, Books & Magazine, Handloom & Artefacts, Consumer goods kiosks, including FMCG and pharmaceutical.

The concessionaire will be mandated to take over the identified space and undertake the remodeling of the entire area for the development of commercial, leisure and entertainment space at the station.

Shortly, IRSDC will be undertaking facility management of 90 more stations in a phased manner, the release added.