The Konkan Railway project involved building a 738 km railway line through difficult mountainous terrain in India. It required constructing over 2000 bridges and 92 tunnels. Some of the major challenges included boring through rocky mountains, crossing over 1500 rivers, and dealing with landslides and floods. Advanced technologies like gas pressure welding and India's longest tunnel at the time helped overcome these obstacles. Through meticulous planning and coordination between engineers and contractors, the $2 billion project was completed in 8 years, connecting major cities in a safer and faster manner. It was one of India's biggest infrastructure achievements since independence.

1. OR @ Konkan Railways
Anjay Raj

2. Konkan Railways – F & F’s
• Designed and built by Indian Engineers in span of 8 years
• Konkan Railway takes you on a breathtaking journey through rugged
mountains, lush valleys, sunlit paddy fields, bustling villages and
glistening rivers that lead out to sea.
• It is undoubtedly one of the biggest and most difficult infrastructure
projects India has undertaken and successfully completed since
Independence.
• Today, the Konkan Railway travels 738 kilometers through the states of
Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka, starting just after the Roha railway
station (75 km south of Panvel in the suburbs of Mumbai) in Maharashtra
and ending at theThokur railway station near Mangalore in southern
Karnataka.

3. Captions:
• 2000 Bridges & 92 tunnels to be built through this
mountainous terrain containing many rivers
• Connect Reduced travel time, Mumbai to Mangalore
41 to 15 hours, Mumbai to Cochin 36 to 24 hours,
Mumbai to Goa from 20 to 10 hours.
• Total Route Length 760 Kms
• 4850 Hectares Land, spread over 760 Kms.
• 59 Stations across

4. Construction Challenges
• The project threw up a whole range of difficulties – technical, financial,
emotional and psychological.
• The rocky Sahyadris had to be bored through
• As many as 1500 rivers had to be forded.
• Once in a while, a poisonous snake, or a tiger, decided to take a close look at
goings-on!
• In the face of collapsing embankments and unrelenting mountains, the
engineers had to be tough
• Engineers had to be deeply sensitive to the feelings of those who had given
up their land.

5. Construction Challenges
• June 1994, Mahad had floods 10 to 12 feet above the road level, and when
they receded, Konkan Railway jeeps had six-inch layers of silt on the seats
• Four workers in the Byndoor tunnel in Karnataka faced their own battle with
water when they were thrown back 60 feet by a sudden gush
• During the monsoons in July 1997, an entire mountainside collapsed at
Ukshi. Machines were buried under the debris, but 200 labourers had a
miraculous escape.
For those who kept going despite the toughest of challenges, the sense of
achievement made it all worthwhile. If people had considered this merely as
a job, it would have taken 25 years to complete. It was the team spirit that
was so crucial in the successful completion of the project.

6. Success Mantra’s
• First time in India funds for the project were raised without touching the
government coffers.
• The authorized capital was pooled together by the railways and the states of
Kerala, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra.
• They leveraging public bonds (to the extent of Rs.2250 crores) that carried
attractive rates of return, tax breaks and guaranteed repayment
• Over 4850 hectares of land was acquired from over 42000 owners in the
three states of Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra
• Payment cheques were door-delivered at a time when India was still highly
bureaucratized, that too, within twelve months.

7. Success Mantra’s
• The scenic route also had India’s
then-longest ever tunnel at
Karbude, which is 5.6 km. in
length
• A visible example of
the ingenuity and the dedication
of the builders, the Panval
Viaduct connects two hills and
has 12 spans and 10 pillars, 6 of
which are taller than the Qutub
Minar ! At present, it is the third
highest viaduct in Asia.

8. Planning
• They had planned that the whole railway line would be divided into 7 zones,
each zone concurrent with a revenue district, and a Chief Engineer was
posted for each zone.
• They selected contractors only from the pre-qualified list.
• Decision making by the contractors had to be approved by the higher
authority.

9. Communication
• It was very important for the people who were involved in this project to
communicate with each other for the completion of the project.
• Department of telecommunications (DoT) lines were hired and then
established a good communication network with the headquarters of each of
the Chief Engineers. They were all given FAX machines, they were all given
computers. A computer networking was done, so that everybody can have
any information he wants from anywhere and message can be passed on
time.
• First time in the history of Indian Railway, Optical fibre cable was used in Tele-
communication network. At that time it was a new technology which sensed
a lot of opposition but today optical fiber cable is a common thing. Today in
the Indian railway system, the Konkan railway has the longest stretch of
optical fiber cable.

10. Communication
• Mr. E Sreedharan would sit with the contractors and concerned engineers
and used to see the problems faced by the team and on the spot used to sort
out the problems. So that there is no difficulty at all for the progress of the
work.
• Every Monday, Mr. E Sreedharan had a meeting with the Head of
Departments, where all the problems connected with the whole project were
discussed

11. Operational Ability
• The operating ratio, which is a parameter of operating efficiency, has
significantly improved to 80% in the year 2015-16 as compared to 86.43% in
the year 2014-15.
• Concept of Roll on Roll off (RORO)
• Truck drivers find it extremely difficult to drive loaded trucks through Ghats,
undulating surfaces, narrow roads, poor road and weather conditions.
• Saving of fuels, decrease in wear and tear of Lorries (trucks), relief to drivers
of driving in extreme conditions, can reach faster to destination which leads
to saving in travel time and money.
• The freight earnings during the year 2015-16 was Rs 459 crore, which was
30% more than last year's freight earnings off 354 crore.

12. Technology
Incremental launching method
• This is a new technology used for
the 1st time in India (same
technology was used in Delhi
Metro). Incremental launch is a
method of building a complete
bridge deck from one end to other
end.

13. Technology
Gas pressure welding
• A new technology of gas pressure
welding came from foreign countries
was used. People were trained for
this technology in Japan. The
advantage of gas pressure welding is
that it can be done at the site itself.
Traditional welding methods can only
be done in welding shops. And it was
a problem to get the welded railing
to the site again.

14. Technology
Geo-tech safety works
• Boulder netting – Rock fall protective
measure
• Rock bolting – To anchor loose boulders to
the parent rock in tunnels & cuttings
• Shotcreting – It is mixture of sand, cement
and aggregate up to 12 mm size spreaded
on rock surface to arrest the boulder falls
and loose rocks from falling.
• Flattening of Cuttings, Construction of toe
walls – To prevent the soil erosion

15. Technology
Railway Application Package
• A new Unique ERP System
• The Java Based Railway
Application Package (RAP) consists
of tightly integrated 23 modules
supporting all aspects of working
of all the departments in a Railway
System.

16. Technology
Patents
• Anti Collision Device
• Track Identification System
• Sky Bus – An Elevated Suspended
Coach Rail Transportation System
with Swing Arrestor, Collision
Arrester, Coach clearance,
Derailment Arrester

17. ThankYou