Konkan Railway

Konkan Railway

·         Missing link between Mumbai and Mangalore.

·         740 Kms

·         KRCL - Konkan Railway Corporation Limited

·         Govt of India Undertaking

·         Hqrs -CBD (Central Business District),  Belapur in Navi Mumbai

·         Connects Maharashtra, Goa, Kerala and Karnataka

·         First train flagged off on 26.01.1998

·         No of Stations - 67

·         Broad Guage (1.676mm)

·         Total Cost - Rs. 3555 Crores

·         Total Staff - 5300

From	To	Saving in distance (Kms)	Saving in Time ( In Hrs)
Mumbai	Mangalore	1127	26

 

·          Organization: CMD plus 13 Directors.

·         RO-RO - Roll-on Roll-off service - in 1999. The first of its kind in India, allowed loaded trucks to be transported on Railway Wagon flatcars.

·         There is NH-66 passing through same route. Truck drivers find it extremely difficult to drive loaded trucks through ghats, undulating surfaces, narrow roads and poor road and weather conditions. The KRCL came with concept of RORO, where loaded trucks are moved on wagons and are traveled by train. This has helped in saving of fuels, decrease in wear and tear of lorries (trucks), relief to drivers of driving in extreme conditions, can reach faster to destination. This also helps in decongestion of roads and lowering of pollution. This concept has been beneficial for both truck operators and KRCL. 

• 100 Percent electrification from Roha (Maharashtra) to Thokur (Karnataka)  -740 Kms at a cost of Rs. 1280 Crores

Beginning

·          Initiated in the year 1971

·         1984 - Final Location Engineering cum Traffic survey

·          1988 - Survey report submitted to Railway Board.

·          Arranging funds for such mega project - very tough one.  so Dr. Bimal Jalan, then Economic Adviser to the Finance Minister, suggested the idea of a Corporation with the Centre and beneficiary states .

·         1990 - Sri E Sreedharan, who was retired as Member, Engineering, was chosen the First Chairman & MD of the Konkan Railway.

·         19.07.1990 - KRCL - Konkan Railway Corporation Limited  - incorporated as a Public Limited Company under the Companies Act, 1956.

·         First time, Govt of India had departed from its policy of controlling Railways.

·         15.09.1990 - Foundation stone laid at Roha.

 

Sreedharan style of Construction:

 

·         Entire 760 KM project divided into 7 segments.

·         Each segment headed by Chief Engineer, who was delegated with full powers.

·         The field level - with newly recruited 400 young engineers from fresh graduates.

·         At the peak of construction, not more than 2400 personnel from MD to lower level.

·         WANs/LANs for instant communication

·         Survey - First time in Indian Railways history - Sent out of  teams of boys having diploma in Engineering  with Kawasaki Bikes with petrol and Rs. 100/- Per day . Normally Jeeps and lot of people running around.  

·         30 teams in Goa worked on 16 different alignments and the data was analysed by Shri Rajaram, the Chief Engineer ( later MD of KRCL too) analysed the entire data on an assembled computer, which was bought cheap in Bangalore.  He himself designed the software for this analysis.  This approach saves 90 % of the normal cost.

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