Konkan Railway (KR) commuters and officials hope railway minister Suresh Prabhu will do the two things than can turn around the fortunes of KR, one of the country's most congested routes.
The optimism stems from the fact it's for the first time since the commissioning of the KR in 1998, a leader from the Konkan belt is becoming a railway minister.
The rail route, connecting the tourism-heavy areas of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala, is a one-line route creaking under the pressure of ever-increasing passenger and freight trains.
Officials told dna that they expect Prabhu to help KR with the Rs 700 crore it needs for electrification of its 741-km route and around Rs 1,500 crore for doubling the line between Mangalore and Udipi and Roha and Karanjadi.
A doubling survey, approved by the board of directors on October 29, has been sent to the railway board.
"These two works can actually change the dynamics of KR. We can take the capacity of KR from the current 68 trains (goods and passenger) per day to around 120. Electrification alone will save fuel to the tune of Rs 100 crore a year," said a senior official.
KR officials say doubling tracks will also mean creating new stations and converting the 28 stations, out of the 58 on KR, with two lines into those with a third line. A third line will allow trains to pass each other much faster at stations.
"KR has 58 stations. It means an inter-station distance of around 15 km -- higher than the ideal 10 km. A few new stations will allow us to run more trains," said the official.
Prabhu was four times MP from the Rajapur (now Sindhudurg- Ratnagiri) constituency. He did not contest the 2014 LS elections, however. KR officials said that Prabhu, a chartered accountant himself, would be able to understand the corporate accounting systems followed by KR and gives it some leeway to raise funds or loans from banks.
KR, which started off with a massive debt of Rs 2,775 crore, has now brought it down to Rs 1,500 crore. The third plan, which, of course, will require considerable interest from the state government as well, is the creation of a few ports along the Konkan coastline, which will allow KR to raise its freight traffic.
"The small profits we now have are from passenger traffic. Ports at Mumbai, Mangalore and Goa are saturated. Smaller ports will really boost the state as well as KR's fortunes. It is a challenge we expect the railways, the state as well as port ministry to take up," said the official.
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