Solutions to Challenges of Land Acquisition for Railway Developments

. Railway developments have drastic effects on the economy and daily lives of citizens, and a large number of countries compete to make investments on them. One of the challenges of railway developments is land acquisition. It requires a long-period of negotiation and vast amounts of money, but at the same time, it often causes protests from affected inhabitants. Delays in land acquisition result in the suspension of projects and a loss of revenues. It is possible that inhabitants suffer from inhumane treatment from authorities to implement land acquisition. Therefore, it is necessary to explore solutions in order to implement land acquisition smoothly. This paper discusses significance and challenges of railway developments and land acquisition, and suggests the importance of 1) creating an independent organisation specialised in railway projects, 2) delivering benefits to those affected as incentives and 3) developing partnership between stakeholders. It analyses three cases in their process, evaluation and effects: 1) The Mumbai Urban Transportation Project (MUTP), 2) The Tsukuba-Express Line (TX) and 3) Crossrail. These cases are common in that they employed a new organisation, provided benefits to inhabitants and needed coordination with a large number of stakeholders. Through the case study, this paper aims to gain lessons and make recommendations. The recommendations are 1) establish a specialised organisation, 2) empower local communities, 3) combine railway developments with urban developments and 4) provide information for inhabitants.