Once, there was a farmer from Punjab named Sampooran Singh, who embarked on a unique journey—from fighting for compensation in court to becoming the unexpected owner of an entire train. His achievement was unprecedented, a feat not even industrial giants like Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, or Ratan Tata could claim.
The story begins in 2007 when the railways seized land for the Ludhiana-Chandigarh railway line, which included a modest plot owned by Singh in the village of Katana.
Upon discovering that nearby land had been acquired at a rate of Rs 71 lakh per acre, Singh felt undervalued and pursued legal action in 2015. He won his case, with the court ordering the railways to compensate him with Rs 1.47 crore. Yet, he only received Rs 42 lakh, leaving him frustrated.
Determined to secure justice, Singh took matters further. In an unusual ruling in 2017, District and Sessions Judge Jaspal Verma ordered the seizure of the Delhi-Amritsar Swarn Shatabdi Express and the station master's office at Ludhiana as collateral for the unpaid sum. Following the court's directive, Singh went to Ludhiana station and, for a brief moment, took control of the train, effectively becoming its unofficial custodian.
Through this extraordinary sequence of events, Sampooran Singh became the only person in India to hold ownership of a train—an achievement unmatched by even the country's largest industrial empires.
