In 1990 when the Konkan Railway Corporation was registered with the Registrar of Companies a lot of people in the Konkan were thrilled that one of their pressing needs would soon be fulfilled. They were promised a railroad from Roha to Mangalore by 1994. The rail travel distance between Bombay and Kerala would be reduced by about a 1000 kilometers as compared to the existing route. Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Uttara Kannada and Dakshina Kannada which were hitherto isolated would now be connected, by a quantum leap, to the mainstream.
The KRC’s advertising and public relations machinery went into top gear. They spared no expense to generate media hype. Superlatives were all over the place. ‘Dream come true’, ‘National Project’, ‘Wonder of the World’, ‘Engineering Marvel’. The print media was soon flooded with articles about 120 trains per day operating on the KRC tracks at 160 km/h. There would be no level crossings, only grade separators would dot the landscape to ensure high speeds of trains with total safety for road traffic and pedestrians.
We were all regaled with grandiose stories and stats as if to confirm the Konkan Railway’s engineering marvel credentials. For example the Panvel Nadi viaduct would be supported on 64-meter tall piers “ as high as the Kutub Minar. The 6.5 km. long Karbudhe Tunnel when completed would be the longest tunnel in Asia. And all this would be done in four years at a low cost of just Rs. 1,042 crore!
The Konkan Railway was ‘commissioned’ on January 26, 1998 amidst much fanfare and media hype. The media were out in full-force but forgot to mention in their reports that the inaugural ceremony was delayed by 5 hours because the inaugural train got derailed at the entrance to a tunnel. Instead of Rs. 1,042 crores, the cost has run-up to about Rs. 11,500 crores. Cumulative losses are 10 times the original equity and they have been subsidized to the tune of Rs. 350 crores per year for 18 years. This subsidy combined with the overcharging of passengers by 40% is what keeps the KRC’s damaged nose above water.
Instead of running 120 trains per day they are now, 18 years after the commissioning, running 47 trains per day. There are dozens of level crossings against the promise of zero level crossings. Instead of 160 km/h. trains we have average speeds of less than 80 km/h. Anyway the KRC has laid a ‘B’ class permanent way instead of ‘A’ class as required by the IREC (Indian Railway Engineering Code) for running trains at 160 km/h. The ‘dream’ has become a nightmare. The ‘national project’ is a national disaster and the ‘wonder of the world’ is now a blunder of the world.
The KRC is now spreading another canard. They are claiming they will double the track from the present single track. This is not possible since there are 179 major bridges, with a total length of 79 kilometres. All these bridges are built for single-track with no provision for doubling. The same applies to their 91 tunnels, with a total length of 88 kilometres. The KRC is once again relying on their USP of advertising, publicity and media manipulation to take the people of the Konkan for another ride.
The KRC is now claiming that with the second track they will be able to run 120 trains per day. This is what they had promised in 1990, with a single track. Their original estimate of 1,042 crores was illegally capped at 3,660 crores. This itself lets the cat out of the bag. Their present estimate for mere doubling of tracks is now more than three times what they claim to have spent on the entire work in the first phase of the single track.
Since Suresh Prabhu, the new railway minister, claims to be a chartered accountant, he should study the AGM reports of the last 20 years and see what a massive fraud has been pulled on the people of India. He is now ready to extend this fraud like E Sreedharan and B Rajaram did earlier. It is time the media stopped spreading this Konkan Railway canard about doubling the track and thereby make amends for fooling the people in Konkan Railway’s first avatar.
- Anthony Simoes is a retired cost engineer. He has worked on the construction of captive mines, ore refining and processing plants, railroads and power plants in India and overseas
