INDIA: The quasi-independent Konkan Railway is to be merged into Indian Railways after the last of the company’s principal shareholders agreed to the restructuring.
Konkan Railway Corp Ltd is a special purpose vehicle established in the 1970s to manage construction of the line of the same name. It is a joint venture of the Indian government and the governments of the three states through which the line runs (Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka), plus Kerala.
The 756 route-km Konkan Railway follows India’s west coast, running south from a junction with Central Railway at Roha, just south of Mumbai, to Margoa (Madgaon) and Mangaluru. Construction began in the late-1970s, with the first sections opened in 1993. The line was opened for through traffic on January 26 1998. Some double-tracking has been commissioned, and the entire line was electrified in 2015-22 as part of the national rolling programme of electrification.
Since 1996-97 KRCL has been owned by the central government (51% share) and the states of Maharashtra (22%), Karnataka (15%), Kerala (6%) and Goa (6%). However, the railway has struggled to manage its construction debts, while the route itself passes through challenging coastal terrain, bringing extremely high infrastructure maintenance costs. As a result, plans to fold KRCL into IR have long been on the agenda of policymakers.
One senior IR official told Railway Gazette International earlier this year that ‘with its revenues failing to keep up with ever-escalating infrastructure demands and major upgrades, Konkan Railway Corp, by its nature, has had limited access to capital and funding. As a result, several important works like doubling of lines and upgrading infrastructure have been stalled or delayed. A merger with the Indian Railways would allow it to get central government funding and ensure faster implementation.’
In May, the final approval was granted for the merger to proceed. In a letter addressed to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said he was ‘pleased to convey the Maharashtra government’s consent for the merger of Konkan Railway Corp Ltd with Indian Railways’.
However, this assent would be subject to the state government receiving Rs4bn in return, reflecting the value of the state’s share in KRCL. ‘Additionally, the name “Konkan Railway” [is to] be retained for the railway lines transferred to Indian Railways post-merger, in recognition of its significant regional legacy’, Fadnavis added.
Despite KRCL’s financial challenges, the railway has established itself as a strategically significant axis providing shorter journeys between the south and northwest of the country. In particular, it facilitates shorter journeys to and from key tourist hotspots like Goa. In June 2023, IR introduced a Mumbai CST – Madgaon Junction (Goa) service using a Vande Bharat inter-city multiple-unit; this covers the 581 km in approximately 8 h.
The Konkan Railway also pioneered rolling motorway services in India, introducing a ‘ro-ro’ freight shuttle carrying trucks on flat wagons from 2004. This was the first such application in India.
