India
Railways Land Bigger Than 42 Narendra Modi Stadiums Under Encroachment? RTI Reveals Shocking Reality Behind India’s Growing Land Crisis
An RTI response shows more than 1,068 hectares of Indian Railways land remains under encroachment, while only limited recovery has been achieved over the past five years.
New Delhi: A startling Right to Information (RTI) response has revealed the scale of railway land encroachment across India, highlighting a challenge that continues to grow despite ongoing recovery efforts.
According to data provided by the Railway Board, over 1,068.54 hectares of Indian Railways land was under encroachment as of March 2025. To put the figure into perspective, the occupied land is large enough to accommodate nearly 42 Narendra Modi Cricket Stadiums or close to 1,500 FIFA-standard football pitches.
The figures indicate that the problem has steadily worsened over the last five years. In 2020-21, the total encroached railway land stood at 810.31 hectares. While there was a slight improvement in 2021-22, the situation deteriorated sharply in the following years, eventually crossing the 1,068-hectare mark.
The most significant increase came during 2023-24, when encroached land expanded by nearly 268 hectares in a single year. Although the latest figures show a marginal decline, the overall trend remains a cause for concern.
The government has also confirmed that Indian Railways owns nearly 4.99 lakh hectares of land, with around 0.21 percent currently affected by encroachment. While the percentage appears small, the actual land area involved is substantial and carries major implications for infrastructure expansion and public projects.
Recovery efforts have made only modest progress. Over the last five years, authorities managed to reclaim just 98.02 hectares of railway land. This is only a small fraction compared to the more than 1,068 hectares that continue to remain under illegal occupation.
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According to the government, reclaimed land is not left unused. It is utilised for important railway infrastructure projects, including new railway lines, multi-tracking works, passenger terminals, freight terminals, workshops, and other operational developments. Land that is not immediately required is transferred to the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) for commercial development.
One of the biggest concerns raised by the RTI response is the absence of long-term records. The application had requested 25 years of encroachment data, but the Railway Board clarified that it maintains records for only the last five years. As a result, there is no centralised historical database to track how the problem has evolved over decades.
The RTI also sought information on which states have the highest railway land encroachments. However, the Railway Board stated that it does not maintain state-wise or location-specific data at its headquarters. Applicants seeking such information have been advised to contact the respective zonal railway authorities.
The findings underline the growing challenge of protecting one of the country’s largest public land assets. As India continues investing heavily in railway modernisation and network expansion, preventing further encroachment and improving land management could become increasingly important for future infrastructure development.
