Railways land equal to 42 Narendra Modi cricket stadiums under encroachment: RTI

Indian Railways is sitting on an encroachment problem large enough to fit nearly 42 Narendra Modi Stadiums or around 1,496 FIFA-standard football fields.

According to an RTI response accessed by India Today from the Railway Board, 1,068.54 hectares of railway land was under encroachment as of March 2025.

And the problem is not shrinking. The data shows that encroachments have increased over the past five years, while efforts to reclaim land have made limited progress.

ONLY FIVE YEARS OF DATA AVAILABLE

The RTI application, filed by India Today, sought a 25-year history of encroachment on railway land. However, the Railway Board provided only a five-year snapshot.

The data shows that the total area under encroachment rose from 810.31 hectares in 2020-21 to 1,068.54 hectares in 2024-25, marking an increase of nearly 32 per cent.

The figures are also in line with the government's response in Parliament on March 27, 2026.

According to the government, as of April 1, 2025, Indian Railways owned approximately 4.99 lakh hectares of land, of which about 0.21 per cent, or nearly 1,068 hectares, was under encroachment.

JUST HOW BIG IS 1,068 HECTARES?

Numbers of this scale can be difficult to visualise, so here is some perspective.

The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, the world's largest cricket stadium by capacity, occupies around 63 acres, or approximately 25.5 hectares.

The railway land currently under encroachment could accommodate nearly 42 such stadiums.

In football terms, the same area is equivalent to around 1,496 FIFA-sized football pitches. However, this comparison only considers the playing surface and excludes spectator stands, parking areas and other facilities.

A RISING CHALLENGE

The Railway Board's Land and Amenities Directorate provided year-wise data on both encroachment and removal efforts.

In 2021-22, the area under encroachment temporarily declined to 782.81 hectares. However, the numbers rose sharply thereafter, reaching 1,078.55 hectares in 2023-24.

That marked an increase of nearly 268 hectares in a single year, the biggest jump during the five-year period.

Although there was a marginal decline in 2024-25, the overall trend remains upward.

Efforts to remove encroachments have made limited progress. Over the five-year period, only 98.02 hectares of encroached railway land was cleared, compared with the current backlog of more than 1,068 hectares.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER RECLAIMING RAILWAY LAND?

The government told the Lok Sabha that around 98.02 hectares of railway land was reclaimed from encroachment during the last five years.

The recovered land is used for railway infrastructure projects, including multi-tracking works, workshops, passenger terminals and freight terminals.

Land that is not immediately required for operational purposes is transferred to the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) for commercial development.

THE DATA GAP

Perhaps the most revealing part of the RTI response is not the data available, but what the Railway Board says it does not maintain.

Asked for a 25-year trend, the Board said it "maintains encroachment data of five years only".

This means there is no centralised long-term record tracking how railway land encroachment has changed over several decades.

The RTI also sought details on states with the highest concentration of encroached railway land.

However, the Railway Board said that "location-wise encroachment is not maintained in this office" and directed the applicant to approach the Public Information Officers of individual zonal railways for state- or location-specific details.

- Ends