The Indian Railways have about 46,333 hectare of vacant land in their possession, a minister disclosed in parliament on Wednesday.

According to Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha, the railways have 461,487 hectare of land under their possession, of which 414,240 hectare is under operational and allied use.

The minister elaborated that the vacant railway land is mostly in the form of narrow strips along tracks, which is required for servicing and maintenance of tracks, bridges and other infrastructure.

“The vacant railway land is also utilised for execution of various infrastructural projects for meeting future growth needs of railways and include projects like doubling, tripling and traffic facilities works, etc.,” Sinha said in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

“The vacant land, which is not required by railways for its immediate operational needs, is utilised in the interim period for commercial development through Rail Land Development Authority wherever feasible, in order to mobilise additional financial resources.”

The minister added that the railways has already completed most of work related to digitisation of land records.