The Indian Railways Station Development Corporation (IRSDC) has developed 1st of its kind ‘form-based codes’ for the commercial development of railway land. IRSDC has adopted a form-based codes approach as per the guidebook issued by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).
- The initiative aims to transform railway lands or railway station areas into Railopolis.
- The form based approach has been developed by IRSDC with support from Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation.
- IRSDC is the nodal agency for redevelopment of railway stations, it is also the main Project Development Agency (PDA) of Indian Railways.
Form-based codes
i.It is a comprehensive set of codes, norms, and guidelines prepared by IRSDC to implement station redevelopment & regulate commercial development of railway lands.
ii.The codes/guide books have been compiled into six parts namely –
- Station planning, national transit-oriented development policy for railway and station redevelopment, codes for commercial development of railway land, codes for architectural design of commercial assets, green building codes & codes for railway heritage assets.
iii.Testing of codes is being done at ongoing station redevelopment projects at Nagpur, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Gwalior, Bijwasan, Anand Vihar.
Benefits
i.It will lead to a systematic and scientific standardization of the development of railway stations, including commercial development on railway lands.
ii.It will assist in the Development of railway lands into Railpolis.
- A Railopolis is a mini smart city with mixed-use development where people can reside, work, and play.
- It will help in attracting huge investment and various business opportunities.
IRSDC
- A Joint Venture of Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), a statutory authority under Ministry of Railways & the Ircon International Limited (IRCON), an Government of India undertaking.
- It is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and was incorporated in 2012.
Recent Related News:
i.On January 5, 2021, Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Ministry of Railways, launched the first-of-its-kind Indian Railways dedicated Freight portal “Freight Business Development Portal” on the lines of ease of doing business.
About Indian Railways Station Development Corporation (IRSDC)
MD & CEO – S K Lohia
Chairman (of Board of Directors) – Mr Pradeep Kumar
Head Office – New Delhi
