The Tatanagar railway station could sport a different look once Jusco takes over its upkeep.

Jamshedpur, Feb. 13: Passengers at Tatanagar railway station can look forward to better facilities in the future.

South Eastern Railway has decided to hand over the upkeep and beautification work of the station and its surrounding areas to Jamshedpur Utilities and Services Company (Jusco), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Steel, which looks after municipal and allied services in the steel city.

Tatanagar will become the first station under South Eastern Railway to be privatised.

Officials said South Eastern Railway bosses at Garden Reach, the headquarters in Calcutta, have given the nod to Chakradharpur division to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Jusco so that the process of handover to a private corporate house is done at the earliest.

?This will be a unique example of government-private partnership in the railways. Such an initiative has been taken for the first time in the history of South Eastern Railway. The idea is to provide better amenities to passengers,? said M.N. Ojha, senior divisional commercial manager of Chakradharpur division.

The basic objective of the tie-up with Jusco is to provide improved facilities to passengers and other stakeholders. Jusco will look after maintenance and upkeep of platforms, railway tracks and overbridges linking one platform to another. Moreover, Jusco, on behalf of the railways, would collect advertisements and other publicity material for displaying them in stations. At present, advertisers have to seek permission from the railway commercial department for putting up an advertisement board on platforms.

Ojha said officials from Chakradharpur have held two rounds of talks with their Jusco counterparts. Jusco had agreed to undertake the project and has completed a survey work of Tatanagar railway station. ?We approached Jusco as it has the necessary expertise in maintenance and beautification. We hope to convert Tatanagar into a model station with Jusco?s assistance,? he said. Another round of talks is scheduled for February 16.