Railways owns 10,65 lakh acre land, discloses E. Ahmed - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Union Minister of State for Railways E Ahmed informed the Rajya Sabha that the Indian Railways owns approximately 10.65 lakh acre of land. In a written reply Ahmed said, about 90 per cent of this land is under Railway's operational and allied usages. The total vacant land, at present is about 1.13-lakh acre. He also informed the Parliament that in order to mobilize additional financial resources, Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) has been set up to undertake commercial development of vacant railway land and air-space which is not required by Railways for its immediate future operational needs. "So far, 133 sites of such vacant land measuring 3744 acre have been entrusted to RLDA on various Zonal Railways for commercial development. RLDA has taken up studies for ascertaining revenue potential of these sites," he said. Ahmed also said the Railways has also planned o utilize its 1.13 lakh acre vacant land, wherever feasible, for setting up of various infrastructural projects, which include Rail Coach and Component factories, Multi-Modal Logistic Parks, Auto hubs, Cold Storage and Perishable Cargo Centres, and others through innovative financing models in order to earn more revenue for the railways, create additional railway infrastructure, and also generate employment opportunities.