KRCL plans to go in for 'patch doubling' of Konkan Railway route in phases

MANGALORE: Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) is planning to go in for ‘patch doubling’ of the Konkan Railway route. The doubling work will initially be taken up between Roha and Karanjadi in Maharashtra and Thokur and Baindoor in Karnataka. The initial phase of doubling will be along open and straight stretches with work on tunnels and bridges on this route being taken up in phase two of the proposed expansion.
Stating this in an informal chat with reporters here on Thursday, Vaishali Patange, chief public relations officer of KRCL said the corporation is going in for this project to strengthen its route network within its limited resources. “KRCL have identified above stretches in first phase and is resorting to doubling the route in patches due to financial constraints as well as the challenges that terrain and topography of the route presents,” she said.
About the Roll-on Roll-off (Ro-Ro) service where goods trucks are transported on specially designed rakes from point-to-point, Vaishali said this service unique to KRCL has earned the corporation revenue of Rs 65 crore in the last fiscal. KRCL transported 55,000 trucks during 2013-14, earning it the highest-ever revenue as against 48,000 trucks during 2012-13. “We expect a 10-20% increase in RoRo revenue during the current fiscal,” she said.
Ro-Ro service is popular among freight operators as it offers hassle-free transportation devoid of many disadvantages of transportation through road. Vouching for this, she said when traffic was disrupted recently on Konkan Railway route due to goods train derailment, the corporation was flooded with requests from freight operators to restore RoRo services as well as when it operated a record number of specials during Ganesh Chathurti.
On the revenue front, Vaishali said, KRCL posted an operating surplus of Rs 218 crore during the last fiscal with a turnover of Rs 1,221 crore. The operational efficiency too improved from 95 paisa spent on every Rupee earned to 87 paisa for every Rupee it now earns. The corporation on the other hand is still saddled with construction debts and is taking steps to chip away at this accumulated debt in a concerted manner.