Central Railway invites EOI for cleaning and maintenance of railway stations

Mumbaikars are interested to clean and maintain local railway stations in the city, for this, the Central Railways has invited Expression of Interest (EOI) for cleaning and maintenance of the stations on a pilot project.

“Expression of Interest for cleaning and maintenance of Ulhasnagar Station of Mumbai Division and Kolhapur, Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Terminus station of Pune Division have been invited by Central Railway as a pilot project. In a pre-bid meeting held at CSMT on August 5th, 10 bidders showed interest,” said a CR official.

“Under this contract, the licensee has to manage housekeeping/cleaning activities, waste management, pest control, minor repair and maintenance work at stations, whitewash and painting, horticulture and landscaping work etc. as per contract agreement. Earning contracts to be included in the concept are advertisement rights of station (both inside and outside), pay and use, pay and park, up-gradation/maintenance and management of waiting rooms/dormitory, operation and management of cloakroom, 24/7 passenger convenience store in station/circulating area, operation of food van 24×7 in circulating area for promotion of local cuisine will be allotted through open tender,” he added.

“At present, there are two types of contracts being operated at the stations i.e. earnings and expenditure contracts. The earnings contracts include advertising, pay and use toilets, pay and park, management of waiting rooms on a chargeable basis etc. The expenditure contracts mainly pertain to station cleaning, minor repairs etc. It is now proposed to bring all the above contracts under one umbrella by inviting an Expression of Interest followed by open tender so that the burden of expenditure contracts can be neutralized and net earnings can also be accrued,” said Shivaji Sutar, Chief Public Relations Officer of CR.

“To make the project successful, a high-level committee comprising of four officers of Central Railway, including Ity Pandey, chief commercial manager, Neelam Chandra, Dhruvjyoti Sengupta and Rajeev Kumar Mishra conducted a pre-bid meeting on August 5th at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus in which ten interested parties participated,” further added Sutar.

The concept was explained in detail to the participants and various parties have suggested to conduct a joint survey of the station so that actual feedback regarding pros and cons can be brought out for the proper implementation of the concept and the same got approved by the committee.

“These ‘Station Maintenance and Earning’ contracts will surely bring better passenger amenities and will also generate Revenue for Railways,” said a senior railway official.