New Delhi, Sep 16 - The railways ministry Wednesday said it would not resort to forceful acquisition of land for railway projects, and that it would review its land acquisition policy.

'The ministry of railways has decided that there shall not be any forceful acquisition of land for railway projects,' the ministry said in a statement.

'Accordingly, it has been decided to comprehensively review the railways' land acquisition policy to ensure that forceful acquisition of land, including agriculture land, is completely avoided,' it said.

'The focus of this review will be to facilitate acquisition of land directly from the land owner with complete transparency. All existing land acquisition cases shall be critically examined in the light of the above review within a period of one month.