Keywords : Many half-hearted attempts had been made over the previous century, and especially since the sixties, to extend the Railway in the Konkan region by linking Panvel to Diva in October 1964, and Panvel and Apta in April 1966. But it was only in 1977, when Prof. Madhu Dandavate was the Railway Minister, that Konkan Railway started really becoming a dream. Prof. Dandavate sanctioned the first stage from Apta to Roha, which was opened in March 1986

Description : Many half-hearted attempts had been made over the previous century, and especially since the sixties, to extend the Railway in the Konkan region by linking Panvel to Diva in October 1964, and Panvel and Apta in April 1966. But it was only in 1977, when Prof. Madhu Dandavate was the Railway Minister, that Konkan Railway started really becoming a dream. Prof. Dandavate sanctioned the first stage from Apta to Roha, which was opened in March 1986.

Then, in 1989, when Mr. George Fernandes became Railway Minister, the dream was pursued with greater vigour. In fact, on the first day of his taking over as Railway minister, he told staff and officers at the Rail Bhavan that he had two projects in mind - Bagaha - Chittauni in Bihar, and Konkan Railway.

On July 19, 1990, Konkan railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) was incorporated as a public limited company under the Companies Act, 1956. For the first time, the Government of India had departed from its policy of controlling railway projects. Instead, it made the four beneficiary provinces of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala partners in the autonomous corporation, with Mr. Sreedharan as Chairman and Managing Director. The Corporation had a seemingly impossible task. After the laying of the foundation stone at Roha by Mr.Sharad Pawar on September 15,1990, it had to conquer the unrelenting terrain between Roha and Mangalore, cross dozens of mountains and rivers, and build a 760 Km. railway line. The project was huge, the time extremely short.

Where 100 Km. over easy territory had taken 20 years, KRCL initially had a mere five years to build the Konkan Railway, a time frame which was further reduced thanks to political considerations. Four and a half years were by no means realistic, but as Mr. Sreedharan says : "At that time, we did not realize the magnitude of the project. Drawing up their plans in an office, Mr. Sreedharan’s team had yet to realise what kind of terrain they would have to battle, and though some surveys had been conducted, there was no data for the entire stretch in Maharashtra - a route which involved half the length of the line.

The setting up of the organization was one of the most important steps in the execution of this project. With his years of experience on the Indian Railways, Mr.Sreedharan conceived an organizational set-up designed to deliver the goods. The entire project length of 760 Km. was divided in seven sectors, each approximately 100 Km. long, headed by a Chief Engineer. The sectors were Mahad, Ratnagiri (north), Ratnagiri (south), Kudal, Panaji, Karwar and Udupi. With the delegation of adequate powers to Chief Engineers, and compact sectors that allowed for personal attention, KRCL succeeded in overcoming the proverbial ‘red tape’, and kept up the pace of work.