MANU/PIBU/3818/2022

Department/Board : Press Information Bureau

Date : 07.09.2022

Cabinet approves policy on long term leasing of Railways Land for implementing PM Gati Shakti framework (Cargo related activities, Public utilities and Railway's exclusive use)

More revenue to railways and employment generation potential of about 1.2 lakh jobs

300 PM Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals to be developed over next five years

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the Ministry of Railway's proposal to revise the railways' land policy to implement PM Gati Shakti framework (Cargo related activities, Public utilities & Railway's exclusive use).

Impact:

i. This will help in attracting more cargo to railways, increase railways' modal share in freight transportation thereby reducing logistics cost of the industry.

ii. This will bring more revenue to railways.

iii. This will simplify approvals for utilities as envisaged in PM Gati Shakti Programme. This will help in development of public utilities like electricity, gas, water supply, telecom cable, sewage disposal, drains, optical fibre cables (OFC), pipelines, roads, flyovers, but terminals, regional rail transport, urban transport etc. in an integrated manner.

iv. This policy amendment will enable employment generation potential of about 1.2 lakh employment.

Financial Implications:

No additional expenditure will be incurred. Liberalizing the land leasing policy would open avenues for all stakeholders / service providers / operators to establish more cargo related facilities and render their participation assisting in generation of additional cargo traffic and freight revenues to Railways.

Benefits:

This policy amendment will enable employment generation potential of about 1.2 lakh employment.