Selling dreams with feet in a quagmire!!

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Dreams and promises but completion of the project is nowhere in sight. Without engineering excellence such projects would be a massive waste of public money

Kashmir Rail Link Project not completed yet, even will take 7-8 years more

In 2008, officers of Northern Railway, IRCON and Konkan Railway convinced the Ravindra Expert Committee that they don’t foresee any problems with the alignment.

In 2014, they sought to convince Shridharan Expert Committee also that the alignment is fine and will complete construction in 3 to 4 years.

* Shridharan recommended formation of special purpose vehicle to expedite Katra-Banihal rail corridor.

* Katra-Banihal stretch is considered to be the most difficult engineering challenge.

* Delhi High Court had constituted a committee in 2015 with Shridharan.

The Committee said that by ‘any stretch of imagination’ the project can not be completed even in 8 years, and strongly recommended that the alignment should be given up and the alignment proposed by Alok Kumar Verma, then chief engineer should be adopted.

Railway Board rejected the Committee’s unanimous report and claimed before Delhi High Court that line will be completed by 2018.

Barely 50% work done so far in 2020, and completion unlikely before 6 to 8 more years.

When completed the Katra-Banihal Kashmir rail link will cost about Rs. 270 crore per km. When completed it would surely be the costliest single line built ever anywhere. But, its capacity will be about half of a normal single line.

This is one of several bad decisions by Rly Board, which in 2015 rejected report by the Shridharan Committee that the alignment should be scrapped to adopt new alignment with steeper gradient.

Double line with much higher capacity on new alignment will cost less and be superior to the existing alignment in all respects.

In 18 years since 2002, when construction began, barely 50% work completed so far. Completion may take six to eight more years.

Dreams and promises but completion of the project is nowhere in sight. Without engineering excellence such projects would be a massive waste of public money.

#railways #IndianRailways #chenab_rail_bridge #Kashmir_rail_link_project #railwayboard #Cheab_railway_bridge