Railway minister promises quick electrification permissions to Konkan Railway

The optimism among Konkan Railway officials about new railway minister Suresh Prabhu — front-paged by dna in its November 11 edition — has turned out to be true with the minister promising to get quick permissions for the electrification of the 741km diesel rail route.

dna in November 12 edition had carried an article on how KR's diesel bills were bleeding it white with estimates for the current year showing that KR would be surpassing the diesel bills of previous years.

Speaking to dna, KR managing director BP Tayal confirmed the development. "The minister was very positive about the issue and has promised quick approval of the electrification plan," said Tayal. A KR proposal to electrify its route between Roha and Thokur at a cost of Rs720 crore has been lying with the railway ministry since January this year.

How Prabhu got convinced.
Prabhu was four-time MP from Rajapur (now Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha constituency) and is well-versed with the working of KR. As a chartered accountant, he is also aware of the weak finances of KR despite it being among the country's most patronised routes.
Through Saturday and Sunday, first in Mumbai and then Delhi, KR managing director BP Tayal managed to convince Prabhu about how electrification was the only panacea for the rising diesel bills. DNA has learnt that KR's founding chairman-managing director E Sreedharan also spoke to Prabhu about the need for electrification.

The diesel disaster:
A recent KR study showed that if all the trains- passenger and goods- that were run by KR between April 2013 and March 2014 was powered by electricity instead of diesel, the energy bill for KR would have been Rs134 crore against the Rs269 crore - in diesel charges- KR finally spent. That, the study showed, was a straight 50% reduction in energy bills for a transporter that is creaking with mounting losses.
The diesel bills, thanks to the number of special trains increasing by the year apart from the routine ones, has been increasing steadily. It was Rs151 crore in 2011-12, which increased to Rs205 crore in 2012-13 and then to Rs269 crore for 2013-14. Current estimates by KR show that by the end of the financial year in March 2015, the diesel bills might be in the range of Rs325 crore.

Is an operational dilemma looming?
The delay in electrification of KR's route could soon throw up a major operational challenge for the railways. Electrification work on Southern Railway's Shorannur junction in Kerala to Mangalore is going on at a brisk speed and is expected to be completed by March next year. The doubling of the Panvel-Roha line by Central Railway is expected to be completed by March next year and its electrification by 2017. It would mean that on either ends of KR, the lines would be electrified. That would require trains to change locomotives- from electrical to diesel- before entering KR territory at both Roha on CR and Mangalore on SR. It wastes time as well as money.

Rising diesel bills:
2011-12 --- Rs151 crore
2012-13 --- Rs205 crore
2013-14--- Rs269 crore
2014-15 --- Rs325 crore (estimated)

Cost of electrification estimated- Rs720 crore
Recoup period estimated - 5 years
Time for electrification- 3 years