The Railways needs to explore means to speed up utilisation of available vacant land “for commercial development” to increase its non-tariff revenues and to find ways to rope in private players for the redevelopment of stations, a Parliamentary Standing Committee report on Performance of Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) said.

According to the report, of the total vacant Railway land of about 62068.21 hectares, about 60–70 per cent consists of narrow strips along tracks, utilised for various operational needs. Around 1,216 hectares were handed over to RLDA for commercial development and around 67 hectares were been given by RLDA for commercial development. The Railways has been urged to “define and designate areas of vacant land for commercial development”.

“The Committee would like to impress upon the Ministry to explore various means to utilise the vacant land under its control and ensure that more land is utilised for commercial development which will eventually increase the non-tariff revenue of Railways,” it stated adding that the Ministry needs “to establish a streamlined approval process for fast-tracking permissions, clearances and permits” for expeditious commercial development.

Approvals for sites

It was mentioned in the Standing Committee report that approvals for 16 commercial sites have been “cancelled” because of default in payment of installments of lease premium by the developers. Asking the Ministry to address the issue, it was mentioned that “modifications in RLDA regulations are under process” and this will enable developers in obtaining loans from financial institutions.

“…..urge the Ministry to issue necessary modifications at the earliest to avoid further cancellations and ensure fulfillment of development of commercial sites,” it said while asking the Ministry to establish “a clear and fair dispute resolution mechanism within the contracts including provisions for mediation, arbitration and other alternative dispute resolution methods.”

It also noted RLDA was entrusted with the redevelopment of 103 stations and redevelopment of just two - Ranikamalapati and Gandhinagar – have been completed, so far. “The Committee, therefore, urged the Ministry to encourage private sector participation through suitable models to accelerate the redevelopment process,” the report mentioned adding that roping in private players “can attract investment, expertise and innovative ideas”.  

Suggestions for speeding up station redevelopment include taking up a phased approach, prioritising stations based on factors like passenger footfall, connectivity and strategic importance.

Interestingly, the Railways recently announced an investment of ₹25,000 crore towards the redevelopment of 508 stations. So far, attempts at a PPP model have not yielded expected results.

Removing Encroachments

 The Committee pointed out in its report that around 783 hectares of Railway land is under encroachment across various zones. Suggestions include the need to conduct surveys by field officers frequently and setting up proper monitoring mechanism to check outcome of these surveys. “The Ministry should also consider imparting tailor-made training to field officers to deal with such encroachment cases,” it noted.

Interestingly, more than 1,200 advocates are on the panel of Railways looking into the encroachment cases. Keeping in view the high number of sub judice cases, the Standing Committee suggested “the Ministry conduct a comprehensive legal review of all pending cases relating to encroachment of Railway land….coordinated efforts be made among Railway, law enforcement agencies and local authorities to ensure effective enforcement of courts orders and eviction of encroachers once judgments are passed.”

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