KONKAN RAILWAY;

THE UNTOLD STORY

19
th
Jul y 1990 26
th
January 1998
760 Km rai l way l i ne connecti ng Bombay(Roha) to
Managal ore (Thokur)
1, 998 bri dges(179 Maj or & 1, 819 Mi nor)
93 tunnel s wi th aggregati ng l ength of 83.5 Km
Dream proj ect of Mr.George Fernandez
Konkan Railway
Chithoni & Bogha railway bridge
States Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka & Keral a
Bombay to Mangal ore 2, 041 Km (41 hours)
Bombay to Mangal ore 914 Km (15 hours)
CMD Mr. E Sreedharan
BACKGROUND
Proj ect concepti on
Concept of Roll on Roll off (RORO)
Truck drivers find it extremely difficult to dri ve l oaded trucks
through Ghats, undulating surfaces, narrow roads and poor road
and weather conditions
Saving of fuels, decrease in wear and tear of Lorri es (trucks),
relief to drivers of driving in extreme condi tions, can reach
faster to destination which leads to saving in travel time and
money
Project will boost to the economy of country





Q1. I N THE CASE STUDY GI VEN I DENTI TY THE SUCCESS
OR FAI LURE OF THE FOLLOWI NG PROCESSES PROJ ECT
CONCEPTI ON, PROJ ECT DEFI NI TI ON, PROJ ECT
PLANNI NG, PROJ ECT LAUNCH AND EXECUTI ON?


Proj ect defi ni ti on
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 considerabl y. 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, wi th the funding cost al one 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?


Proj ect pl anni ng
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 whol e railway line would be di vided 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?


Proj ect l aunch & executi on
The project was estimated to complete in 5 years time,
ultimately took 7 years for completion
The main reason one was governments 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?


Central Govt.
Planning commission
Finance ministry
Railway ministry
State Govt.
Maharashtra
Goa
Karnataka
Kerala
Landowners, Contractors, I nvestors, Engi neers
Chi ef secretary & Transport secretary of Bangal ore & Keral a
Al l t he above stakehol ders were i mportant for maki ng Konkan Rai l proj ect
successf ul , especi al l y contractors, l andowners & consent of al l hi gher
gover nment author i ti es of al l four states. Wi t hout stakehol ders, proj ect
woul dn t be successf ul . I n ever y proj ect whet her i t i s smal l er or bi g,
proj ect stakehol der pl ay a ver y i mportant rol e.


Q2. I DENTI FY ALL THE I MPORTANT STAKEHOLDERS?

Contractors were sel ected from pre-qual i fi ed l i st
Deci sion maki ng by the contractors had to be approved
by the hi gher authori ty.
Payment made to contractors
Mobi l i zati on of advances
There need to be a good communicati on between the
contractors and superi ors
Fuel avai l abi l i ty on si te
I mport of sophi sti cated equi pment
I ncenti ves of compl eti on of work
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?

Risk Managed / Mismanaged
Disapproval/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.
Q4. WHAT DO YOU THI NK WERE THE AREAS OF RI SK?
HOW WERE THE RI SKS MANAGED / MI SMANAGED?

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 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 THI NK WERE THE AREAS OF RI SK?
HOW WERE THE RI SKS MANAGED / MI SMANAGED?

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 THI NK WERE THE AREAS OF RI SK?
HOW WERE THE RI SKS MANAGED / MI SMANAGED?

I t was very i mportant for the peopl e who are i nvol ved i n
thi s proj ect to communi cate wi th each other for the
compl eti on of the proj ect.
Hi red DOT l i nes and then establ i shed a good
communi cati on network wi th the headquarters of each
of the Chi ef Engi neers. They were al l gi ven FAX
machi nes, they were al l gi ven computers. A computer
networki ng was done, so that everybody can have any
i nformati on he wants from anywhere and message can
be passed on ti me.
Mr. E Sreedharan woul d si t wi th the contractors and
concerned engi neers and used to see the probl ems faced
by the team and on the spot used to sort out the
probl ems. So that there i s no di ffi cul ty at al l for the
progress of the work.
Every Monday, Mr. E Sreedharan had a meeti ng wi th the
Head of Departments, where al l the probl ems connected
wi th the whol e proj ect were di scussed



Q5. I DENTI FY THE AREAS OF GOOD COMMUNI CATI ON
OR THE LACK OF I T?

Opti cal Fi bre cabl e
Fi rst ti me i n the hi story of Indi an Rai l way, Optical fibre
cabl e was used i n Tel e-communication network. At that
ti me i t was a new technology which sensed a lot of
opposi tion but today optical fibre cabl e i s a common
thing. Today i n the Indian rai l way system, the konkan
rai l way has the l ongest stretch of opti cal fi bre cabl e.


Q7. WHAT WERE THE NEW TECHNOLOGI ES USED I N
KONKAN RAI LWAY PROJECT?

I ncremental l aunchi ng method
Thi s i s a new technology used for the 1
st
ti me i n Indi a
(same technology was used i n Delhi Metro).
Incremental l aunch i s a method of bui lding a compl ete
bri dge deck from one end to other end.

Q7. WHAT WERE THE NEW TECHNOLOGI ES USED I N
KONKAN RAI LWAY PROJECT?

Bal l ast l ess track
A di sadvantage of tradi tional track structures i s
heavy demand for mai ntenance which l eads to heavy
mai ntenance cost. Thi s can be overcome by using
bal l astl ess track.

Q7. WHAT WERE THE NEW TECHNOLOGI ES USED I N
KONKAN RAI LWAY PROJECT?

Gas pressure wel ding
A new technology of gas pressure welding came from
foreign countri es was used. Peopl e were trained for
thi s technol ogy i n Japan. The advantage of gas
pressure wel ding i s that i t can be done at the si te
i tsel f. Tradi ti onal welding methods can only be done
i n welding shops. And i t was a probl em to get the
wel ded rai l i ng to the si te agai n.

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

QUESTIONS