NEW DELHI: Infrastructure firms like GMR Highways, Essel Infraprojects IRB Infrastructure , Shapoorji Pallonji & company, Bharti Realty and IL & FS Township & Urban Assets plan to invest in the ambitious Indian Railways plan to redevelop major railway stations into world class terminals under the public private partnership model.“A lot of companies, foreign funds and state governments have evinced interest to invest in the station redevelopment projects. We have a plan to redevelop 400 stations on similar model,” Rail Minister Suresh Prabhu told ET. “We already have signed an MoU with Urban Development ministry to build smart stations in all 100 smart cities. That work would also be undertaken with private investment,” Prabhu added.In phase I, the railways has lined up eight stations across the country to be redeveloped and the bidding process for two stations in Delhi and NCR region has already been rolled out.Companies have bid for the two major stations in the capital and NCR-Anand Vihar and Bijwasan. Whosoever wins the contract would get the commercial exploitation rights of the land of the station owned by the railways for a period of 40 years. For Anand Vihar, 13 infrastructure companies are in the fray and nine for Bijwasan. The developer, along with redeveloping the passenger infrastructure at the station including platforms and lounges, will be able to build hotels, malls, multiplexes and other commercial units at the railway land that would be earmarked by the railways. The stations are being redeveloped under the Swiss challenge model.A top railway official said investments expected at these two stations could be to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore. Under the Swiss challenge model of bidding for railway stations, a company can submit a development proposal to the railway ministry. That proposal is made online and any other company can give suggestions to improve and beat that proposal.An expert committee appointed by railways will accept the best proposal and the original proposer will get an opportunity to accept it if it is an improvement on his proposal. In case the original proposer is not able to match the more attractive proposal, the project will be awarded to the counter-proposal. The plan to redevelop stations could see inflow of Rs 100,000 crore, the official added.It would make sense to integrate redevelopment of major stations with the smart cities initiative. It would then be possible to reap economies of scale and firm-up plans across larger urban landscapes. Going forward, there is bound to be huge potential for retail, hospitality and other commercial real estate at railway stations and their vicinity. A plan to commercially develop railway land in urban areas–often in city centres–beyond train stations must also be on the policy agenda, to monetize rail assets.