Another line, more stations in pipeline for Konkan Railway

After being flooded with complaints that Konkan Railway (KR) trains are always waitlisted, railway officials said they were steadily working on building the capacity by introducing more stations and more lines.
Konkan Railway is a single line section, leading to limited capacity. "We plan to start a new train every year and are doubling the line in phases as and where required. We are building a second parallel line at stations to increase capacity,'' said Bhanu Pratap Tayal, Konkan Railway's managing director.
Konkan Railway also plans to increase the number of stations on the line. "We have set up three new stations and more will open up every year. This gives us space to lay more tracks and increase capacity. We are also building five new reservation centres every year,'' Tayal added.
Every monsoon, mud slides along the rail tracks affect Konkan Railway services. Tayal said mud slides are a "research subject" and there seems no immediate solution to the problem. "We formed committees, diverted tracks, taken help of IIT experts, geologists and several professionals, but it does not seem to help,'' Tayal said.
"The mountains are made of lateritic soil and look stable when dry. But, during monsoon, entire mountains crumble. We have realigned tracks, placed wire meshes and planted vetivar saplings to stop mud slides, but nothing seems to be working here,'' he added.
Konkan Railway officials said the problem would persist for the next few years.
Rajesh Tripathi, director (way and works), said they were contemplating the cut-and-cover method and building a station at Pomendi, the ground zero of mud slides.