Konkan Rly to launch track-doubling work on Roha-Veer section soon

Konkan Railway plans to launch the track-doubling work on the Roha-Veer section after the tendering process is completed in the next few months. The 49-km section will be doubled at an estimated cost of ₹295 crore.

Sanjay Gupta, Interim CMD and Director of Operations, KRCL, told a media conference in Navi Mumbai on Friday that track doubling would begin from the Roha end of KRCL as the work between Panvel and Roha is likely to be completed by Central Railway soon. Commencement from the Roha-end would ensure continuity, he added.

According to Gupta, track doubling seeks to enhance capacity by 2.5 times and improve average speed besides enabling KRCL to handle freight traffic from port connectivity.

Electrification is also likely to commence in the next few months for KRCL from the Thokur-end as electrification works from the Southern Railway end has already reached Mangaluru, Gupta said and added that this would ensure continuity of traction and help in avoiding loco changes from electric to diesel and vice versa.

Electrification from the northern end will begin after Central Railway completes the Panvel-Roha electrification, he said.

The target time for electrification has been pegged at 36 months for the whole of Konkan Railway’s route length of 739 km and will cost ₹709 crore.

HBL