core sector communique

Leasing Out Vacant/Unused Railway Land

Indian Railways have approx. 10.65 lakh acres of land. About 90 per cent of this land is under Railway operational and allied usages. The total vacant Railway land at present is about 1.13 lakh acre. Zone-wise details of vacant land are; 6188 acres in Central Railway; 3792 acres in Eastern, 8620 acres in East Central, 4707 acres in East Coast, 9489 acres in Northern, 1079 acres in North Central, 14352 acres in North Eastern, 11718 acres in Northeast Frontier, 5953 acres in North Western, 5673 acres in Southern, 5557 acres in South Central, 4467 acres in South Eastern, 9659 acres in Southeast Central, 2255 acres in South Western, 17970 acres in Western and 1458 acres in West Central.. The vacant land is mostly in the form of a narrow strips along track and is also essential for servicing and maintenance of track and other infrastructure. The vacant railway land is utilized for execution of various infrastructural projects for meeting future growth needs of Railways and include projects like doubling, traffic facilities, Rail Coach and Component factories etc. The vacant land, which is not required by Railways for its immediate operational needs, is utilized for commercial development, wherever feasible, in order to mobilize additional financial resources through Rail Land Development Authority, set up through the Railway (Amendment) Act, 2005 to undertake commercial development of that vacant railway land/air space subject to extant rules/instructions governing such use, as amended from time to time. The total earnings from leasing/licensing of land for last three years are 2009-10 (Rs. 649.14 crore), 2010-11 (Rs.732.38 crore) and 2011-12 (Rs.1105.12 crore). This information was given by the Minister of State for Railways, Shri Bharatsinh Solanki in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.