The Untold Story of

Konkan Railway

Background 19th July’ 1990 – 26th January’ 1998 760 Km railway line connecting Bombay(Roha) to Managalore

(Thokur) 1,998 bridges(179 Major & 1,819 Minor) 93 tunnels with aggregating length of 83.5 Km Dream project of Mr.George Fernandez

Konkan Railway Chithoni & Bogha railway bridge

States – Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka & Kerala Bombay to Mangalore – 2,041 Km (41 hours) Bombay to Mangalore – 914 Km (15 hours) CMD – Mr. E Sreedharan

Q1. In the case study given identity the success or failure of the following processes – Project conception, Project definition, Project planning, Project launch & execution?

Project conception Concept of Roll on Roll off (RORO) Truck drivers find it extremely difficult to drive loaded

trucks through Ghats, undulating surfaces, narrow roads and 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

Project will boost to the economy of country

Project definition Four state governments have joined hands with the

central government to begin a project of this size. Konkan Railway project is a highly viable project,

financially very attractive, because it reduces distance between Bombay & Mangalore considerably. The normal haulage distance between Bombay & Mangalore was 2041 km. After the construction of this project, it would be 914 km

The project cost, initially estimated at Rs.860 crore, has increased by over four times. The project cost has been estimated at Rs.2,780 crore, with the funding cost alone being Rs.550 crore

Q1. In the case study given identity the success or failure of the following processes – Project conception, Project definition, Project planning, Project launch & execution?

Project planning take approval from Planning Commission, central

government and the beneficiary state Government (Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, and Kerala).

The whole project was decided to complete in five years’ time.

They 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

Q1. In the case study given identity the success or failure of the following processes – Project conception, Project definition, Project planning, Project launch & execution?

Project launch & execution The project was estimated to complete in 5 years’ time,

ultimately took 7 years for completion The main reason one was government’s own action. There

was controversy regard to the Goa government and the work was stopped by the government. The second was finance

Three-fourths of the project funds had to be raised in the market. The expectations were that we could raise the money from the internal market through bonds, either tax-free bonds or taxable bonds

Unexpected adverse geological conditions in some of the tunnels

Q1. In the case study given identity the success or failure of the following processes – Project conception, Project definition, Project planning, Project launch & execution?

Q2. Identify all the important stakeholders?

Central Govt. Planning commission Finance ministry Railway ministry

State Govt. Maharashtra Goa Karnataka Kerala

Landowners, Contractors, Investors, Engineers Chief secretary & Transport secretary of Bangalore & KeralaAll the above stakeholders were important for making Konkan Rail project

successful, especially contractors, landowners & consent of all higher government authorities of all four states. Without stakeholders, project wouldn’t be successful. In every project whether it is smaller or big, project stakeholder play a very important role.

Q3. The success of a project depends largely on the success of the contractor. What steps were taken to ensure the success of the contractor?

Contractors were selected from pre-qualified list Decision making by the contractors had to be approved by the

higher authority. Payment made to contractors Mobilization of advances There need to be a good communication between the

contractors and superiors Fuel availability on site Import of sophisticated equipment Incentives of completion of work

Q4. What do you think were the areas of risk? How were the risks managed / mismanaged?

Risk Managed / MismanagedDisapproval/resistance from beneficiary state govt.

This risk was managed by Mr. George Fernandes & Mr. E Sreedharan by taking serious talks to the heads of the state and making them believe the benefits that can be derived from this project. Bureaucratic approach was taken to solve this problem.

Budget for the project The budget derived to railway project in India was around Rs.250 to Rs.300 crores and already 20 – 25 new railway projects were on going. This was a serious problem because then it would take 25-30 years for completion of the project. The govt. also issued tax free bonds but it was a failure due to share market scam. At last only choice was External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) through which the govt. was able to raise Rs.400 crore.

Janata Dal party collapsed Konkan Railway project was undertaken under Janata Dal party. Within a week after Mr. E Sreedharan was appointed as CMD, the party fell and Mr. George Fernandez was no more the railway minister.

Difficulty in acquiring land For the project, the govt. had to acquire land from 40,000 landowners. This was a major problem as people would resist from selling their land. A new strategy was developed to tackle this problem. Landowners were given compensation for the land as well as rental charges for 1 to 1 ½ years till they are ready with their new house.

Difficulty in making 760 Km line Constructing 760 Km railway line would take many years and huge cost. But this was reduced by adopting a new strategy where in Konkan line was divided in 7 zones and construction was started at each zone at the same time. By this the time as well as cost of the project was reduced.

Risk of contractors Many times in construction project, the risk of incomplete work from the side of contractor is very high. This risk was managed by giving contract only to recognized, pre-qualified contractors who have adequate cash flow.

Political Interference In a cross state construction project, many times there is government interference. This problem aroused when GOI stopped work in Goa sector for 9 months. There was no solution to this had a terrible effect on the rest of the project.

Q4. What do you think were the areas of risk? How were the risks managed / mismanaged?

Difficult geological conditions The project only had 5 years’ time. In this time, all kinds of survey, clearance, and geological inspection had to be done. Tunnels needed geo-technical investigations, but there was no time. Accidents took place while excavating tunnels in mountains. This delayed the project.

Environment impact While some people thought that the project was economically beneficial, some environmental groups raised questions towards its impact to ecology in the konkan area. These groups stated that the project would cause destruction of ecology, damage to historical sites and disrupt the lifestyles of people in densely populated coastal region.

Q4. What do you think were the areas of risk? How were the risks managed / mismanaged?

Q5. Identify the areas of good communication or the lack of it?

It was very important for the people who are involved in this project to communicate with each other for the completion of the project.

Hired DOT lines 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.

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

Q7. What were the new technologies used in Konkan Railway project?

Optical fibre cableFirst 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 fibre cable is a common thing. Today in the Indian railway system, the konkan railway has the longest stretch of optical fibre cable.

Incremental launching methodThis 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.

Q7. What were the new technologies used in Konkan Railway project?

Ballast less trackA disadvantage of traditional track structures is heavy demand

for maintenance which leads to heavy maintenance cost. This can be overcome by using ballastless track.

Q7. What were the new technologies used in Konkan Railway project?

Gas pressure weldingA 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.

Q7. What were the new technologies used in Konkan Railway project?