Indian Railway s are built-up over the common man Indians properties during the British era.
Now we can imagine the lands controlled by our IR in all the Metros / cities / Towns and Rural areas and its present market values.
The present Railway Board members have to be gone back to the British era .How the British acquired the lands from the common &poor man and evacuated them .
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So our IR has social obligations for the Indian poor and common peoples.
They have to be served enough ordinary passenger trains and sub urban services .
Nowadays land acquisition for Railway projects are very much tedious.Railway projects are delayed for the decades .
.Example.Chennai MRTS last stretch of Velacherry to St .Thomas Mount lands acquaintance are delayed by 3 decades and still pending .
So many Railway projects are not at all surveyed through the public lands.

* Tragedy for IRlys since independence is, most of the new lines constructed were "socially desirable projects" rather than to genuinely required projects. Result is deterioration of Rly finances.
* Any such project forced on the IR, should be accompanied with compensation clause to save IR from the cost of construction, as well as future operational losses incurred when the socially desirable project is commissioned.
* New rail line is often sanctioned to connect home towns/ inlaws-town/ political constituency of big shots, a case of connecting home town with in laws town...
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of big politicians etc. Mostly the political interests are served in the name of so called "socially desirable projects". Most of the "socially desirable projects" had been implemented in some states only, with an intention to serve the RM's or party's political interests rather than to serve the society at large.