Railways to develop land for revenue

The Railways plans to commercially develop land owned by it in Mumbai to augment its revenue. Revenue has been under considerable strain on the one hand due to constant increase in diesel prices, increase in staff salaries, the need to run more trains, and on the other hand due to the constraints in increasing passenger fares. The Mumbai Vikas Corporation (MRVC) has initiated a study for the purpose. The study would, among other things, assess the market conditions for the land development, as also the impact such development would have on existing infrastructure such as roads and other utilities. The plan has short listed five plots spread all over Mumbai ? the western & eastern suburbs and central Mumbai. The plan is focussed on developing the land owned by Central Railway in the city ? about 4.7 lakh square metres of which is under encroachment and litigation. The land owned by the Western Railway in the city ? about 1.4 million square feet ? has been reserved for the Oval Maidan-Virar elevated corridor. The project allows commercial development of the land to enable the private developer to recover costs.