RRB Practice 25

Indian Railways owns one of the largest land holdings of any organisation in India, with several lakh hectares of land along railway lines, at stations, in railway colonies, at workshop sites, and in various other locations accumulated over the more than 160 years since the first railway line was opened in the country. The management of this vast land asset — ensuring it is protected from encroachment, put to productive use, and developed in a manner that generates revenue for the railways while serving the needs of the railway community — is the responsibility of the Railway Land Management Authority and the estate officers of each zonal railway. Railway colonies, developed historically to house the large workforce required to maintain the railway, are distinctive residential communities with their own social infrastructure — schools, hospitals, cooperative stores, recreation clubs, and religious institutions — that create a strong sense of community identity among railway employees and their families. These colonies are located across India in both urban and rural settings, and the land they occupy, often in prime locations in city centres due to the historical pattern of railway development, has become enormously valuable in the context of modern real estate markets. The National Monetisation Pipeline identified railway land as a significant asset available for commercial development, and Indian Railways has established the Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation and later Rail Land Development Authority to plan and implement the commercial development of railway land assets in partnership with private investors. Station redevelopment projects, which involve the comprehensive redesign and reconstruction of station buildings and surrounding land as modern multi-modal transit hubs with commercial space, retail, offices, and hospitality facilities, are intended both to improve passenger amenity and to generate revenue from the commercial development that cross-subsidises the station infrastructure investment. The Gandhinagar Capital station in Gujarat, redeveloped with a hotel above the station building, was among the early examples of transit-oriented commercial development at Indian railway stations. The Tender Sure project in various cities has established the principle of using right-of-way along urban railway corridors for the development of pedestrian and cycling paths, utility conduits, and commercial kiosks. Encroachment on railway land, a persistent problem in many urban areas where land is scarce and valuable, is addressed through periodic joint surveys by railway estate staff and government authorities, followed by eviction of unauthorised occupants and physical protection of the cleared land. The management of railway land also involves environmental responsibilities — maintaining trees and green cover on railway land, managing drainage to prevent flooding of tracks, and ensuring that railway activities do not adversely affect water bodies and other environmental assets adjacent to railway land.