Several proposals had been initiated in the mid-1990s, but never took off. One of them concerned building multi-storeyed commercial complexes at Chennai Central station, and at the Borivili, Andheri, Kalyan, and Thane stations in Mumbai. The first two floors were to be reserved for the Railways, while the rest were to be taken up by shops, restaurants, and offices. An Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation was to be set up for the purpose. Tapping real estate Both proposals have now been revived.
Plantations are also on the agenda.
The Railways Board is finalising a policy that will allow railway land, with areas varying between 3 acres and 50 acres, to be leased to private firms to grow trees. The brainwave came after the Railways raked in Rs 3 crore in 1999-2000 by harvesting teak, eucalyptus, and sheesham trees grown on its land. But the Railways is not banking on this alone. With freight accounting for two-thirds of revenue, wooing that traffic back is also getting top billing. Realising that a lot of freight traffic is lost to roads because of poor connectivity to ports and warehouses, the Railways is addressing these issues.