Bhopal's Habibganj station to become India's first private railway station

New Delhi: Bhopal's Habibganj is set to become the first railway station to be built under a public-private partnership (PPP) under Indian railways' plan of refurbishment.

Bansal Group, a local firm has been awarded the contract to build, maintain and operate the station for eight years.

The firm has also been allotted four land parcels on lease agreement of 45-years.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu will inaugurate the redevelopment work of the station on June 9.

Sunil Bansal, owner of the firm has told the Times of India, "The redevelopment plan has already kick started at the station...five-platform will soon have six lifts, eleven escalators, three travellators and three subways of which one will be solely dedicated for parcels."

The station will feature shopping stores, restaurants and parking lot.

Earlier an Economic Times report said that government wants to refurbish 25 major Railway stations. Among the list of stations the are Bengaluru, Lokmanya Tilak (T) in Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Visakhapatnam, Howrah, Allahabad, Kamakhya, Faridabad, Jammu Tawi, Bangalore Cantonment, Bhopal, Mumbai Central (Main), Borivali, and Indore.