The alignments for 5 lines in the Himalayas that’s important, but..

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The cause is adoption of flat gradient as a result of which the line is not able to climb to the required higher elevation

Alok Kumar Verma, IRSE(Rtd.)

A flaw of the alignments for 5 of the 7 lines in the Himalayas that is so important that I decided to write a post separately.

This flaw is that the Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Sikkim lines are terminated far away from the intended destinations.

And, in the case of the Rishikesh – Karanprayag line, it would be very difficult to carry the line to Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri, and the border with China.

See summary in the table..

The cause is adoption of flat gradient of 1 in 100/1 in 80 as a result of which the line is not able to climb to the required higher elevation.

The Meghalaya Line terminates at a small hamlet which is about 28 km from Shillong, the state capital. By car it will take 45 to 60 minutes to reach the station and quite longer by a bus.

For the Mizoram Line it is worse as the line terminates at village Sairang which is 750 m lower elevation to the state capital Aizawl. In term of distance by road, it is about 24 km away, about an hour by car and longer by bus.

For the Sikkim Line it is the worst as the line terminates at an elevation about 1,000 m lower than Gangtok, 42 km away by road (About 75 minutes by car and 2 hrs by bus)

The Nagaland Line terminates at village Zuzba, at 360 m lower elevation than Kohima and 15 km away.

That, usefulness of the line will be severely impaired by this deficiency is obvious. I would just draw attention to the fact that each of these lines is a short line (from 44.5 km for the Nagaland Line, 51.4 km for Mizoram, 88 km for Nagaland and 108.4 km for Meghalaya Line.)

So people may prefer to go to the existing terminus straight away by road than to the new station on the extended line in a remote area in the hills with few train services on offer.

By adopting alignment with 1 in 40/ 1 in 50 gradient these lines can be taken right to the capital city.

For the Rishikesh-Karnaprayag line and extensions to char dham, it will be in the next issue.

Note: With steeper grade the line will reach the capital city without increase in cost or route length.

Cost will ofcourse reduce because of the other benefits of steeper grade like, reduced size of bridges and cuttings, less expenditure on strengthening and stabilization of slopes by artificial methods (grouting, rock bolting etc), and better stability, safety, security, and operations and maintenance.

For the Sikkim Line there might be need to reach the China border at Nathula Pass and the Meghalaya and Nagaland lines to Burma border.. to be continue..

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