ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Railways was informed on Tuesday that out of 19,594 acres of railways land, approximately 951.28 acres were under illegal occupation of the private sector while 307 acres were encroached upon by the government.
However, as many as 363.907 acres of land had been retrieved during the last four years.
Furthermore, during July to October 2026, encroachments covering approximately 8.992 acres were removed, with an estimated value of Rs305.67 million.
The Ministry also shared a comprehensive schedule for the removal of further encroachments during November 2026.
The meeting was held at the Parliament House with MNA Ramesh Lal, in the chair.
The National Assembly Standing Committee on Railways emphasized the importance of protecting valuable railway land from encroachments, ensuring effective coordination with provincial and local administrations, expediting land retrieval operations and taking concrete measures to improve the land safety.
It also stressed the need for timely implementation of the Committee’s previous recommendations and further strengthening the overall operational efficiency of Pakistan Railways.
The committee reviewed matters relating to Pakistan Railways, including the Railway Board Bill, 2026, encroachments on railway land in Karachi Division, and recent railway accidents across the country.
The meeting considered the Bill titled ‘The Railway Board Bill, 2026’ (Government Bill) and decided to defer its consideration until the next meeting of the committee. The meeting was apprised on recent railway accidents across the country.
It was informed that 89 accidents had been reported from January 1 to November 2, compared to 92 accidents during the corresponding period of 2025. The major causes included track-related issues, rolling stock defects, human errors, road users’ violations, sabotage, natural calamities and other operational failures.
The Ministry officials highlighted that ageing railway infrastructure, inadequate development funding, trespassing, violations at level crossings and foggy weather were among the contributing factors to accidents.
Pakistan Railways is striving to reduce the accident ratio to below 0.19pc under its strategic roadmap.
The meeting was attended by MNAs Ibrar Ahmed, Waseem Qadir, Munir Iqbal, Syeda Amnah Batool, Zulfikar Bachani, Sadiq Ali Memon, Dr. Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto, Syed Waseem Hussain and Ahmed Saleem Siddiqui. Officers of the Ministry of Railways and Pakistan Railways also attended the meeting.
Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2026
