Railways have initiated the process to appoint consultants for transforming six major stations in the country into world-class stations, the government said on Thursday.

The stations are Secunderabad, Howrah, Sealdah, Kolkata, Chennai Central and Anand Vihar, Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

He also said consultancy works and preparation of master plan and feasibility report has been taken up for New Delhi, CST Mumbai and Patna stations.

Bidding process for world-class stations in public-private-partnership mode is initiated after master plan and feasibility report is prepared and in-principle approval of the local agencies is obtained.

The minister said the completion of the projects is expected to take five to six years due to the complexities involved and the necessity to undertake the work while keeping the station operational.