Konkan Railway zone

History

Background

For most of the modern era, the Konkan coast of India did not have a railway link connecting its coastal cities, towns and villages. Even the British who ruled India until 1947 did not build a railway along this route. The first proposal was surveyed in 1920. In 1957 an aerial survey was conducted of the area between Dasgaon, Raigad District in Maharashtra and Mangalore with the object of studying the possibilities of railway development in this region.

The long-pending demand of this region was fulfilled by George Fernandes who was the Railway minister in V.P. Singh's government, backed by then Finance minister Madhu Dandavate and Vice Chairman of Planning Commission Ramakrishna Hegde. They set up Konkan Railway Corporation Limited headed by E.Sreedharan for executing Konkan railway line to tide over funds crunch of Indian Railways.

The first phase of the Konkan Railway was the 60.75-kilometre (37.75 mi) section from Apta to Roha. It was cleared by the Planning Commission, and the project was included in the 1978-79 budget at an estimated cost of ₹11.19 billion. The length of the railway from Apta to Mangalore was estimated at 890 kilometres (550 mi), and its cost was estimated at ₹239 billion in 1976. The engineering and traffic survey for the West Coast Railway Line from Apta to Mangalore was conducted from 1970 to 1972. The final survey for the Apta-Roha-Dasgaon section was made in 1974–75.

Challenges

The project involved over 2,116 bridges (of which the Panvalnadi bridge was the highest viaduct in India till 2010, Now Jhajjhar Khad is the highest viaduct in India) and 92 tunnels and was the largest railway project of the century in Asia. A major challenge was land acquisition from about 43,000 landowners. When the Konkan Railway Corporation (KRCL) began asking people to surrender property which had belonged to them for generations, many (convinced of the project's importance) did so voluntarily. This enabled the process to be completed in one year. The longest bridge is on the River Sharavathi, spanning 2.06 km (1.28 mi) and the longest Tunnel is in Karbude near Ratnagiri, stretching 6.561 km (4.08 mi).

Terrain and the elements were challenging; flash floods, loose soil, landslides and tunnel collapses affected work at many places on the project. Thickly forested construction sites were often visited by wild animals.

The route crosses three states (Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka), each of which agreed to provide financing. The authorised share capital was increased in 1996-1997 from ₹6 billion to ₹8 billion, with the government of India taking a 51-percent share; the rest went to Maharashtra (22 percent), Karnataka (15 percent), Kerala (6 percent) and Goa (6 percent).

Contracts for the project were given to construction firms which included Larsen & Toubro who were given a major part of the project, Gammon India and Afcons. To speed up construction, piers for major bridges were cast on riverbanks itself and launched with pontoon-mounted cranes. This was India's first use of incremental launch bridge-building. The greatest challenge was presented by the nine tunnels bored through soft soil, which required a slow, manual process. Excavation was difficult due to saturated clay and high water table. Tunnels collapsed immediately several times, requiring the work to be redone. Nineteen lives and four years were lost in the construction of the soft-soil tunnels alone, and a total of seventy-four people died during the railway's construction. The compensation is being paid to the persons displaced due to Konkan Railway Project. The amount paid up till now is approx. Rs. 103 crores to about 39000 persons.

Controversy

In Goa, which makes up 156.25 kilometres (97.09 mi) of the route, concerns were raised about the environmental and economic impact of the railway. According to opponents of the project, the coastal railway would destroy habitat, damage historical sites, and disrupt lives in the densely populated state. In 1991, the Konkan Railway Re-Alignment Committee (KRRAC) organised protests against the proposed railway line. The KRRAC's main points were that the proposal would flood coastal regions, destroy fertile land, harm the monuments of Old Goa, irreparably damage the marshes and mangrove swamps along the coast and the estuaries of the Mandovi and Zuari Rivers, and displace neighbourhoods along the coast. The committee proposed an alternative hinterland alignment passing through relatively unpopulated regions, which would extend the line by about 27.75 kilometres (17.24 mi) but reduce environmental damage.

But the hinterland alignment was rejected by the Konkan Railway Corporation because it would substantially lengthen & divert the line, deny rail access to Goa's population centers, and delay and increase the costs of construction. The KRRAC, which had become a political movement, filed public interest litigation in the Bombay High Court in March 1992 seeking an injunction on construction work and diversion of the line through the hinterland alignment. The high court dismissed the petition the following month, ruling that

... the claim of the petitioners that the alignment would have devastating and irreversible impact upon the khazan lands is without any foundation, and even otherwise, the extent of damage is extremely negligible and a public project of such a magnitude which is undertaken for meeting the aspirations of the people on the west coast cannot be defeated on such considerations. It is not open to frustrate the project of public importance to safeguard the interest of few persons. It cannot be overlooked that while examining the grievance about the adverse impact upon a small area of 30 hectares of Khazan lands, the benefit which will be derived by a large number of people by the construction of rail line cannot be brushed aside. The Courts are bound to take into consideration the comparative hardship which the people in the region will suffer by stalling the project of great public utility. The cost of the project escalates from day to day and, as pointed out by the Corporation, the extent of the interest and east which will be suffered by the Corporation every day is to the tune of Rs. 45 lakhs. No development is possible without some adverse effect on the ecology and environment ...

The Konkan Railway Re-Alignment Committee (KRRAC) now under new name Save Konkan Ecology Forum (SKEF) is strictly & violently opposing Doubling & Electrification Works of Konkan Railway Line, planned by Indian Railways in 2014/2015, citing concerns about the environmental and economic impact, destruction habitat, damage historical sites, and disrupt lives in the densely populated state. Maharashtra, Karnataka & Kerala Governments had given Green signal for doubling & electrification of Konkan Railway Line in 2015/2016.

Completion

In March 1993, the southern 46-kilometre (29 mi) between Thokur, 18-kilometre (11 mi) from Mangalore, and Udupi in Karnataka entered service, followed by the northern 47-kilometre (29 mi) section between Roha and Veer in Maharashtra in June of that year. The first passenger train on the route ran between Mangalore and Udupi on 20 March 1993. The service was extended by 52 kilometres (32 mi) from Veer to Khed in March 1995, and by a further 286 kilometres (178 mi) from Khed to Sawantwadi Road in December 1996. The Southern service was extended by 38 kilometres (24 mi) from Udupi to Kundapur in January 1995, and by a further 272 kilometres (169 mi) to Pernem in Goa in August 1997.

Through services between Mumbai and Mangalore remained on hold due to a problematic tunnel at Pernem, which experienced repeated cave-ins and flooding. The tunnel was finally completed in January 1998, six years after its construction began. Through services on the line began after the inauguration of the full 756.25-kilometre (469.91 mi) stretch from Roha to Mangalore on 26 January 1998. Passenger service on the full route, between Mumbai and Mangalore, began in May 1998.