Konkan Railway on expansion mode as it turns 10

Konkan Railway, which runs along India's picturesque west coast, will complete 10 years of its operations Saturday with its sights set on earning profits by adding 20 new stations to its network and expanding freight services.
The Rs.35.50 billion railway, passing through some of the most hazardous terrain in the world, was a joint venture between the four states and the railway ministry.
Following years of indecision over the issue, the work on the first line between Mumbai to Manglore began in 1990. The entire 741 km line was completed in 1998.
According to Konkan Railway's managing director Anurag Mishra, the youngest rail network in India is already steaming to a financial turnaround.
'Within the next couple of years or so, it will function independent of any government aid or subsidies,' he told IANS in an interview.
Since inception, Konkan Railway has been devising new technological solutions to replace administrative procedures with a view to enhancing operating efficiency.
Mishra said the aim was to make Konkan Railway 'the most preferred mode of transport on the entire west coast of India - something that can be achieved by extreme commercial exploitation.'
'The Konkan Railway will add at least 20 new stations on the line and run trains with two engines to increase capacity,' he said.
The railway became immensely popular for its passenger services connecting Mumbai to Kerala through a shorter coastal route. Now, in the past few years, Konkan Railway has started developing the lucrative freight option.
It has tied up with several private and government units to offer freight services. In the first six years, its freight revenue was a modest 20 percent of the total.
At that time, Konkan Railway had 12 passenger services and three freight services daily. Now there are 15 passenger trains and five goods trains daily.
Hectic efforts are underway to have more freight services than passenger trains and Konkan Railway has employed miners from Goa and Karnataka to lay more lines.
The cargo earnings have recorded a handsome growth, increasing from Rs.807 million in 2004-05 to Rs.2.06 billion in 2006-07.
The freight revenue surpassed the passenger revenue for the first time in 2006-07. Presently, Konkan Railway transports 35 million passengers per year on its entire network.
Mishra said Konkan Railway has been transporting millions of tonnes of freight along the west coast of India. The main freight components include food grains, iron ore, fertilizers, cement, LPG, bauxite, vegetable oil, coal and other things.
In its 10 years of existence, Konkan Railway invented the Anti-Collision Device (ACD), which can prevent mid-section head-on collisions, side collisions, and rear-end collisions of trains in addition to having many other safety features and acts as an additional safety layer over the existing system.