Railways

The Indian Railways is a public enterprise owned by the central government and administered through the Ministry of Railways. The total area of land under the Railway network across the country is about 4,614.87 sq. km. Of this area Railways by its own admission has 463 sq. km. (1,14,491 acres or an area equal to 86,700 football fields) land vacant and 22.4 sq. km of land encroached.

Railway Land Development Authority

In 2006, the Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA) was established as a separate statutory body. The plan was to gradually hand over excess land with commercial potential to RLDA for development, sale, or lease. Newspaper accounts at the time estimated (optimistically) that more than US$100 billion (between 7-7.5 lakh crore) eventually could be realized from monetization of surplus rail lands. RLDA has nearly 55,910 acres of land available with it for disposal

See the map and its accompanying table highlighting publicly available information on the vacant land of 2,040 acres valued at Rs. 4,127 crore.

Rail Land Development Authority

#	District	Area (acre)	Value (₹ crore)
1	Katra	10.57	21
2	Amritsar	0.61	1.23
3	New Delhi	80.86	163
4	Clutterbuckganj	136.52	276
5	Shahamatganj	36.26	73
6	Bikaner	110.59	224
7	Raxaul	2.96	6
8	Jaipur	5.7	11.5
9	Lucknow	9.83	20
10	Etawah	0.74	1.5
11	Siliguri	2.96	6
12	Gwaltoli	3.74	7.5
13	Ajmer	11.7	23.6
14	Kanpur	65.46	132
15	Jodhpur	5.4	11
16	Gwalior	4.68	9.5
17	Sawai Madhopur	0.99	2
18	Jhansi	5.32	10.76
19	Kota	0.52611	1
20	Gaya	1.4	2.8
21	Jamnagar	2.47	5
22	Rajkot	68.13	137
23	Raipur	634.79	1,285
24	Raipur	333.45	675
25	Aurangabad	9.63	19.5
26	Mumbai	39.18	79
27	Visakhapatnam	0.49	1
28	Secunderabad	21.98	44.5
29	Hyderabad	0.6	1.2
30	Vijaywada	0.37	0.75
31	Guntakal	0.49	1
32	Chennai	5.19	10.5
33	Bangalore	2.49	5
34	Villipuram	1.75	3.5
35	Salem	0.82	1.65
36	Nagaptinam	0.32	0.65
37	Pattukoti	1.98	4
38	Trivandrum	420	850
Total		2,040.95 acre	₹ 4,127.6 crore

Another 4,367 acres of land valued at Rs. 38,741 crore was uncovered set out for possible usage of logistic parks. See Map 2 and its accompanying table for detailed information.

Indian Railways - Land & Amenities Directorate

#	District	Area (acre)	Value (₹ crore)
1	Bhatinda	10	20
2	New Delhi	156	29,775
3	Mathura	22	45
4	Belanganj	24	48
5	Narkatiyaganj	352	712
6	Bandikui	21	42
7	Darjeeling	37	75
8	Roja	183	370
9	Jalpaiguri	34	69
10	Nirala Nagar	62	125
11	Amingaon	181	366
12	Supaul	75	152
13	Sawai Madhopur	21	43
14	Suremanpur	100	202
15	Dumari Juara	32	65
16	Bachhwara	30	61
17	Katihar	30	61
18	Khagaria	32	65
19	Jhansi	24	49
20	Sahebpur Kamal	25	51
21	Bhagalpur	50	101
22	Chandauli	227	459
23	Jalore	22	45
24	Bina stn	40	80
25	Patan-Kakosi ,railway line	121	245
26	Katni	25	51
27	Asansol	28	57
28	Bokaro	25	51
29	Vijapur Ransipur ,railway line	164	332
30	Kanchrapara	49	99
31	Chasma	70	141
32	Dahod	30	61
33	Tatanagar	25	51
34	Dankuni	79	160
35	Jagadishpur	111	225
36	Sankrail	32	65
37	Raipur	990	2,003
38	Godhani	140	283
39	Nagpur	25	51
40	Valthan village	25	500
41	Kantibanjhi	32	65
42	Igatpuri	25	51
43	Lonavala	23	47
44	Daund	24	49
45	Satara	24	49
46	Vijayawada stn	26	52
47	Machilipatnam Stn	25	51
48	North Arcot	93	188
49	Chengalpattu	28	56
50	Krishnaraja Ngr	40	81
51	Coimbatore	32	65
52	Trichy	126	255
53	Pudukottai	52	105
54	Madurai	46	93
55	Tirunelveli	42	85
Total		4,367 acre	₹ 38,741 crore

Valuable Urban Parcels

A valuable 11 acre parcel, near the Bandra (East) railway station, had been proposed for commercial development since 2006. Auction reserve prices had been set between Rs 3,700 crore and 4,200 crore at different times.
However, the property has failed to attract acceptable bids at six successive auctions.At the height of the land market in Mumbai, Railways issued bid terms that would haverequired the developer to build two identical office towers, one to be given to Railways for offices free-of-charge, the other to be available for commercial market leasing. The restrictions squeezed profit out of land development. No bids were received.
Subsequently, the dual-tower conditions were dropped. Auction management was turned over to RLDA. Indian Railways worked with the State of Maharashtra to reach agreement that the Floor Space Index (FSI) for the site would be increased from 2 to 4, in order to maximize land value. In return, Railways agreed to allocate two-thirds of land lease proceeds to investment in the suburban rail plan for Greater Mumbai. However, at the last minute a private citizen brought claim in court that the property belonged to the State of Maharashtra, not to Railways. Maharashtra joined the plaintiff in the case, first at the level of revenue collector, later at the level of Minister of Revenue. Attempts to auction the property attracted no bids, as long as title was disputed.
There are many stations along the Mumbai sub-urban local transport stations with vacant land that can be utilised for constructing high rise workspaces. Such a potential usage is the norm across most advanced cities in the world.