Konkan Railway : 263 km doubling of Konkan Railway; 4704 crore project will speed up travel

Konkan Railway. The Konkan Railway Administration has announced an ambitious development plan worth Rs 4,704 crore to ease the growing passenger and freight congestion on the Konkan Railway route. The plan, to be implemented over the next five years, includes doubling of 263 km of railway line, construction of new crossing stations, additional loop lines, modernization of tunnels and installation of state-of-the-art security systems. The project will increase the capacity of the Konkan Railway connecting Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka and provide faster and safer service to passengers.

According to the information provided by the Chairman and Managing Director of Konkan Railway, Santosh Kumar Jha, the 740 km long route from Roha to Thokur is currently running more than its capacity. The survey revealed that 143 percent road capacity is being used in Roha-Margaon section, while 128 percent is being used in Margaon-Thokur section. Therefore, a total of 263 km of road including 112 km from Thokur to Mukambika Road-Byandur and 151 km from Vaibhavwadi to Majorda will be dualised. Due to this work, it will be possible to increase the number of trains and reduce delays. Konkan Railway

Under this scheme, three new crossing stations will be constructed at Mayem, Neura-au-Grande and Mukambika Road-Byandur. Also, additional loop lines will be laid at Gokarna Road, Honnavar, Barkur, Udupi and Ankola stations. These facilities will help smooth the traffic on the road by making the crossing process of trains faster. An expenditure of around Rs 697 crore is expected for these works.

Another big comforting news for passengers is that the capacity of Mumbai-Goa Vande Bharat Express will be increased. This popular train, which currently runs with eight coaches, will soon be upgraded to 16 coaches. This will greatly reduce the difficulty of getting tickets. This decision will benefit thousands of travelers especially during the tourist season. Konkan Railway

Meanwhile, Konkan Railway has also taken big steps in terms of security. New parallel tunnels will be constructed adjacent to the Madure-Pernem and Old Goa tunnels for which a provision of nearly Rs.1,500 crore has been made. Also, geo-technical stabilization works are going to be done at 20 sensitive places keeping in mind the risk of landslides during monsoons. Artificial intelligence (AI) based monitoring system will be installed on tunnels and hilltops to monitor potential threats in real time.

Apart from this, the indigenous automatic train security system ‘Kavach’ will be implemented on the entire Konkan railway line. Flyovers will be constructed instead of 11 railway gates and the old signal systems at 48 stations will be replaced with modern electronic interlocking systems. After the completion of all these improvements, the journey on the Konkan railway line will become safer, faster and more comfortable.