The Central Railway (CR) has decided to do away with its existing system of growing vegetables on the empty land patches along the railway tracks on its Mumbai suburban network and replace them with flowering shrubs and ornamental plants. The farming of vegetables along the tracks in one of India's most crowded urban conglomerate was once a novelty, but it also attracted criticism when it was found that in many places irrigation was provided by drainage water flowing nearby.

The move to replace the vegetable farms with flower beds will beautify the railway route, officials said, adding that the plan is to bring around 150 acres of railway land at around 115 locations in the Mumbai division under floriculture cultivation. For the last several decades, green vegetables, such as spinach, fenugreek and okra, were being cultivated on empty railway lands along the tracks. To save these open spaces from encroachment, the railways had allowed its employees to carry out farming on lease there under the 'Grow More Food' scheme.