India’s first intermodal stations to come up at Nagpur, Varanasi

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will be setting up intermodal stations in 15 cities and the detailed plan reports (DPRs) for two pilot projects at Nagpur and Varanasi are under preparation.

The intermodal stations (IMS) projects will be implemented through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) between the ministries of road, railways and the concerned state government.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has conducted detailed pre-feasibility studies for setting up intermodal stations at Nagpur and Varanasi, and the development of DPRs for this is in final stages of completion.

Fifteen cities across the country have been selected for development of IMS with the pilot projects being set up at Nagpur and Varanasi.

Intermodal stations  are terminal infrastructure which integrate various transportation modes like rail, road, mass rapid transit system, bus rapid transit, inland waterways, auto-rickshaws, taxis and private vehicles etc, so that people can move from one mode to another seamlessly, with minimum use of automobiles. 

In most cities today, transport hubs like bus terminals, railway stations and others are located far from each other, so inter-modal transfers create pressure on the already congested roads.

By bringing the different transport modes at one point, IMS will reduce congestion on roads and also vehicular pollution. IMS will also aid in city decongestion by encouraging the use of public transportation and by effectively using ring roads and national highways for entry and evacuation of inter-city bus traffic.

Intermodal stations are being planned in an integrated manner along with road network development through new connecting roads, bridges, flyovers etc. The stations will cater to passenger volumes for the next 30 years and will have world-class amenities like FOBs with travellators, subways, common waiting rooms, clean toilets and restrooms, integrated public information systems, modern fire-fighting and emergency response services, convenience stores, lifts and escalators, adequate circulation space and commercial establishments.

Inter-modal stations witness higher footfall than disaggregated transport terminals. Since facilities at IMS are better managed due to collaboration of multiple entities, commercial development will also be driven by aggregated footfalls. In addition, passengers do not need to spend time and money to transit between terminals.

Shared infrastructure like FOBs, waiting rooms, concourses, public conveniences leads to reduced investment and land requirement. This lowers the investment requirements while increasing the overall synergies in the system.

Development of inter-modal stations will also give a boost to commercial development and economic activity in cities, which can significantly alter the socio-economic profile of the development area.

The implementation and operation of the IMS will be done by a special purpose vehicle (SPV) between the ministry of road transport and highways (through National Highways Authority of India), ministry of Railways and respective state governments.

Members of the SPV will provide paid-up capital or land as part of their equity contribution to the SPV. MoRTH /NHAI will fund the construction of the terminal infrastructure, including railway infrastructure, ISBT, common areas (concourse, waiting rooms, transport and retail), parking and other station facilities.

Indian Railways / state government will provide the land for construction of the IMS.  Construction and O&M will be bid out to a private concessionaire on a hybrid annuity model (HAM). The commercial development rights will be bid out on a PPP mode, post commencement of operations of the IMS. The returns from commercial development will be used to recover the construction costs.

For the pilot project, the satellite railways stations at Ajni in Nagpur and Kashi in  Varanasi have been selected for development of IMS. Detailed master planning is being finalised along with road augmentation plans and required modal integrations. Stakeholder consultations are being conducted across key agencies and local administrations for both Nagpur and Varanasi.