The Dedicated Freight Corridor Project (DFCP) of the UPA Government connecting New Delhi, Mumbai, ludhiana and Dankuni (near Kolkata) is a major blunder, according to Elattuvalapil Sreedharan, the engineer who built Delhi Metro and Konkan Railway.
“What we need badly is Dedicated High Speed Passenger Corridor (DHSPC) connecting major cities of the country so that the distance could be shrunk further. We need express and mail trains which travel at a speed of at least 300 km per hour. Cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram should figure in this DHSPC network,” Sreedharan told The Pioneer.
He said it is time the country had high speed trains connecting New Delhi and Chennai in less than eight hours. “We should be able to commute the Delhi-Kochi stretch in less than 15 hours,” he said. Sreedharan said he has been pleading for this with the Union Government for the last ten years.
According to Sreedharan, the move to set up Dedicated Freight Corridor was retrograde in nature. “It is not advisable for goods trains to travel at 100 km per hour. But it is mandatory that passengers travelling between distant cities reach their destination fast so that the economy of the country too moves fast,” he said. He also pointed out that Railways would continue to be the most preferred mode of travel by the common man for decades to come.
As on date, most trains take 36 hours to 39 hours to commute between Chennai and New Delhi. The Rajdhani Express takes more than 28 hours to reach the national Capital from Chennai. Similarly, most trains take more than 30 hours to cover the stretch between Kolkata and New Delhi.
He said the DHSPC could be built by making use of the existing facilities and laying some extra tracks. “It will not cost as high as the DFCP which envisages 2,762 km route between the cities of New Delhi, Mumbai, ludhiana and Dankuni,” he said.
Sreedharan also pointed out that once the DHSPC is in place, pressure on tracks would come down. “You will get extra space in the existing tracks which could be used as the DFC. This will bring down the exorbitant cost of the project,” he said.
S Kalyanraman, former Indian Railway Accounts Service officer said the statement by Sreedharan is of paramount importance. “His words and views come out of wisdom and experience. The suggestion about High Speed Passenger Corridor should be implemented on a war footing,” said Kalyanaraman. He also felt it was time for India to initiate the move to build Trans Asian Railway linking Bangkok and Vladivostok.
Sreedharan, who designed and built the 741 km long Konkan Railway, connecting Mangalore with India’s commercial capital Mumbai, said the facilities in the newly-built infrastructure remain under- utilised.
“Express and mail trains could travel at a speed of 160 km per hour in the Konkan Railways. But how many of us are aware of this facilityIJ” he asked. He also pointed out that Delhi Metro has the best railway signalling system in the world. “This could be replicated by the Indian Railways in all over its network. But are they doing itIJ” he asked.
India’s Metro Man was speaking to The Pioneer on the eve of the 100th anniversary of Pamban Bridge, the 2,345 metre long rail bridge connecting Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu to mainland India. The bridge, rated as the country’s longest rail bridge, was thrown open to traffic on February 24, 1914.
The bridge which boasted of a unique Scherezer Rolling lift Bridge was washed away by high tidal waves which struck the Rameswaram coast on December 23, 1964. The waves swallowed No. 653 Pamban-Dhanushkodi Passenger Train, which was negotiating the bridge when cyclone struck. More than 500 persons lost their lives in the accident. The waves also washed off 123 of the 145 giant girder spans.
Though the then Union Government decided not to rebuild the bridge, it had to change the stance following pressure and Sreedharan, then hardly 30 years old, was deputed to rebuild and restore the Pamban Bridge. “I was given six months to complete the job. But we got the bridge restored and reopened for traffic in 46 days,” said Dr Sreedharan, a civil engineer with vast knowledge in mechanical as well as material engineering.
“I never knew that rebuilding would end up as a historical event. We employed innovation, new ideas and new methods in rebuilding the Pamban Bridge. The credit goes to the workers of Indian Railways as well as the fishermen of Rameswaram who helped us to locate the girders washed away by the cyclone. We recovered nearly 80 girders from the bottom of the sea. The Pamban Bridge you see today is supported by the same girders,” he said.
