Sunday 27 February, 2011

Ex-Member Mechanical Hand behind Financial Loss

NEW DELHI : As the Budget looms, Railways finances are in disarray, having witnessed sharp increase in recent expenditure. In 2007-08, Railways spent Rs. 75.9 to earn Rs. 100; today it is spending Rs. 95 for the same. Chairman Railway Board Vivek Sahai has maintained this to be a result of additional burden of 6th pay commission, and while Railways has asked for double the budgetary support from the government, the Planning Commission has asked Railways for a passenger fare hike to reduce passenger / coaching operations losses that have ballooned to Rs. 14,000 crore. There is little chance of Minister for Railways Miss Mamta Banerjee followed suit on her budgetary speech on a fare-hike for obvious reasons. But, there were less obvious ones why passengers should not have to bear the burden for Railways’ financial trouble.

Loss on Coaching Operations

06-07

07-08

08-09

Earnings

20,419.14

22,722.01

26,088.09

Expenditure

26,711.34

30,244.46

40,045.88

Loss

-6,292.2

-7,522.45

-13,957.79




White Paper on IR, Rs. In crores

Decisions made within the Railway Board in recent years to engender and protect corruption have depressed Railways finances far more than any pay commission. Although other Railway departments have foregone or lost equally startling sums courtesy carefully cultivated tricks and loopholes, consider only procurement, and within procurement only that specific to upkeep of coaches.

Railways’ Periodic Overhaul (POH) reports show that while the 6th pay commission has indeed increased labour costs, what has also seen an abnormal spike is the annual average material cost per coach, wagon, and locomotive. This is despite the fact that recently POH cycles have been changed from once every twelve to once every eighteen months. With overhauls conducted less frequently, material costs per coach should have decreased. Moreover, since 2006-07, numerous ‘upgraded’ materials have been bought at higher prices for their quality and longevity. However, Railway zones are today buying the same, if not more, ‘upgraded’ material as before. Expenditure has risen, and benefits have accrued only to certain bureaucrats and their crony firms.

In recent years, one of the tricks used to loot Railways has been successive revision of material specifications with the ruse of increasing quality and life-cycles. New specifications have been introduced only in order to restrict competition to pre-fixed suppliers that have then cartelized and jacked-up prices multiple-times market rates. Specification rackets in numerous coaching items have been, in terms of prices charged, at their height in 2008, something that has reflected in total annual coaching expenditure jumping by Rs. 10,000 crore.

Documents confirm the role of a Board Member behind brazen corruption in the ‘up-gradation’ of material for Railway coaches, which stands out even within a consummately non-competitive, kick-back laden, and cartel infested procurement system that has caused losses of around Rs 50,000 crore in the past decade. In the case of the introduction of 7 coaching items such as flooring sheets and seat cushions with tailor-made specifications that led to a Rs. 1,000 crore racket, documents expose the central role of one ex-Member Mechanical . The ex-Member Mechanical did not stop at setting the 7-item racket in motion along with then Finance Commissioner R. Sivadasan with the issue of an unprecedented letter to all Zonal Railways and Production Units on February 14th 2007, which listed highly inflated estimates taken from the very suppliers guaranteed future orders. Ensuring these suppliers lost no time in raking in enormous profits, The ex-Member Mechanical also brazenly exerted pressure, writing and calling zonal tender committees across the country to immediately begin purchasing revised specification material.

In demi-official letters written in end-March 2007, The ex-Member Mechanical instructed General Managers of Zonal Railways to immediately procure the revised materials through ‘coordinated action between the Controller of Stores and Chief Mechanical Engineer’ and conduct ‘no further procurement of these items to old specifications.’ The active involvement of ex-Member Mechanical in pushing these mass-purchases shows itself again in an official note written by a Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of a Zonal Railway on April 11, 2007. The CME mentions having received a call from Mr. Rao, who expressed displeasure when informed that purchase of a revised specification coach item, will take another 3 months. According to the CME, ex-Member Mechanical wanted the revised specification material to be made available for overhauling coaches ‘within the shortest possible time’ and even suggested abandonment of ordinary practices in favour of a ‘Spot Purchase Committee’ under the General Manager’s special power!

While sources in the Ministry of Railways have confirmed that RDSO Director Carriage Shailendra Singh has been questioned as a part of the investigation following media expose, and the Competition Commission of india’s independent investigation on the flooring sheet cartel has confirmed bid-rigging, collusion, and unjustified profits, no officer and no firm involved has yet been punished. There are no plans yet by Railway Board to go beyond investigating junior RDSO officers and even question ex- Member Mechanical, who is enjoying retirement.

Perhaps passengers will ultimately have to pay.

Source : THE STATESMAN

Saturday 26 February, 2011

Kashmir Rail Link Project : Railways Bureaucracy Plays Chinese Whispers

NEW DELHI : Following media attention, which began with reports exposing the long bureaucratic cover-up of shoddy planning behind failures along the crucial 126 km Katra-Banihal section of the Kashmir Rail Link project, the Railway Board has decided to shift senior project officials of Northern Railway, and Railways PSUs’ KRCL, IRCON, and RITES to the project site by 31 March. That this "solution" comes eight years after the project was fast-tracked as a "project of national importance" is telling. It also shows the Board is being allowed by the minister to avoid addressing a fundamental engineering concern ~ that the line, even if built at present speed and that will take 20 years, will be unsafe, unstable, and unviable.

While this 126 km section has seen less than 10 per cent progress since 2002, and the political leadership continues to allow a scheming Board to save face, China is fast encircling India strategically. Begun in 2001, China opened its Golmud-Lhasa 1142 km section ~ elevated, for the most part, 4,000 meters above sea-level where depleted oxygen levels and permafrost are permanent features ~ by 2006. Apart from other strategic rail link plans and infrastructure projects being surveyed by China, the 280 km extension of the Golmud-Lhasa line to Xigatse is in progress and further extension to the Nepal border has been announced. In catch-up mode, India is itself surveying a slew of infrastructure and rail projects in the Himalayas. And, this is precisely why the alignment on the Katra-Banihal section and its administration is critical; it sets a precedent for future mountain rail in India.

Railways have not constructed in Himalayas since around the turn of the century, when slope skirting alignments were innovated upon for meter-gauge toy-trains on the Darjeeling, Shimla, and Khyber Pass lines. As may be evinced from arguments made by eminent engineers Mr E. Sreedharan as well as ex-Member, Engineering Mr S K Vij and Chief Engineer Mr A K Verma, Indian Railways has chosen to employ the same turn-of-the-century alignment to construct a heavy, broad gauge line in far more volatile mountains, rather than a slightly steeper alignment with straighter and longer tunneling, as is the practice now in Europe and in China.

Furthermore, eager to sign contracts and please political masters, bureaucrats rushed into construction, without adequate surveys and mapping.

Mr Verma’s proposal, which has still not been properly examined, shows that tunnels are collapsing because they are being built in the sides of landslide prone mountains, not through the more stable centre, and 40 per cent of the line is being built along seismic fault-lines.

However, for the third time in eight years, an obdurate Board is resisting examination of an innovative solution, conceiving differing ideas not on merit, but as personality clashes and insubordination. The first time was in 2003 when then MD, KRCL, strongly objected to rushing into construction on a slope skirting paper alignment without adequate planning, which would escalate costs by Rs 3,000 crore and might never succeed. His proposal to tunnel straight through on a steeper alignment was dismissed as the ravings of an interested contractor and he was punished.

Mr Verma’s alternative alignment proposed to the Railway Board in 2007, supported by Mr Vij, was also scuttled as soon as Mr Vij retired, when Board Members allegedly resorted to forgery and malice. The compromised expert committee refused to examine the fundamental concern of safety and stability raised by Mr Verma, who was then sent packing from the project and hasn’t been paid dues since he resisted this punitive transfer. Now, for the third time, an opportunity to review Mr Verma’s proposal is being resisted.

The minister seems to have left it to the decision of an expert committee; in normal times this would be perfectly kosher, but such is the rot Miss Mamata Banerjee has inherited that the committee itself is compromised as it choose to ignore the very safety concerns expressed by Mr Verma and has instead followed the lead of chairman, Railway Board, Mr Vivek Sahai.

Mr Sahai, incidentally, owes Mr Shriprakash for retiring early so that he (Mr Sahai) could become Member Traffic, and then Chairman, Railway Board. Naturally, Mr Shriprakash, is now himself chairman of the Standing High Power Committee on Infrastructure and Project Monitoring, which in turn is responsible for muffling Mr Verma repeatedly and scuttling his proposal.

Nine Durontos, three Shatabdis and double-decker AC trains...

New Delhi : As many as nine new Duronto trains, three Shatabdi Express trains and double-decker air conditioned services on two routes were announced by railway minister Miss Mamata Banerjee today.
The new Shatabdi Express would link Pune-Secunderabad, Jaipur-Agra and Ludhiana-Delhi while the AC double-decker services are proposed on Jaipur-Delhi and Ahmedabad-Mumbai routes. The Duronto trains are Allahabad-Mumbai AC (bi-weekly), Pune-Ahmedabad AC (tri-weekly), Sealdah-Puri non-AC (tri- weekly), Secunderabad-Visakhapatnam AC (tri-weekly), Madurai- Chennai AC (bi-weekly), Chennai-Thiruvananthapuram AC (bi- weekly), Mumbai Central-New Delhi AC (bi-weekly), Nizamuddin- Ajmer non-AC (bi-weekly) and Shalimar-Patna (tri-weekly). To mark the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda in 2013, Miss Banerjee in her Rail Budget proposed introduction of new trains called “Vivek Express”.

The first four such trains would be introduced on Dibrugarh-Thiruvantharam-Kanyakumari Express (weekly) via Kokrajhar, Dwarka-Tuticorin Express (weekly) via Wadi, Howrah-Mangalore Express (weekly) via Palghat and Bandra(T)-Jammu Tawi Express (weekly) via Marwar-Degana-Ratangarh-Jakhal-Ludhiana. Four Kavi Guru Express trains would also proposed to be introduced to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore. They will be on the routes of Howrah-Azimganj Express (daily) via Sagardighi, Guwahati-Jaipur Express (weekly) via Kasganj-Faizabad-Gorakhpur-Kokrajhar, Howrah-Bolpur Express (daily) and Howrah-Porbandar Express (weekly).

More facilities for employees, families


Medical facilities for staff and their families in remote areas, increasing scholarship amount to girl child and setting up a Board to develop schools were some of the proposals put forth today for welfare of railway employees. The Railway Budget also included proposal for expansion of the scope of liberalised active retirement scheme guaranteed for safety category staff by enhancing the existing criteria of grade from Rs 1,800 to Rs 1,900. In order to provide easy access to medical facilities in remote areas for employees, Miss Banerjee has proposed to provide 20 road medical vans at different locations. Besides increasing the scholarship amount to Rs 1,200 per month for girl child of gangman and Group-D employees for higher education, she said 20 hostels for children of railway employees have been commissioned and another 20 would be set up next year. pti

Four special tourist trains

New Delhi : To promote rail tourism, four special tourist trains called “Janam Bhoomi Gaurav” will be launched to connect important historical and educational places. These special trains, announced in the Rail Budget today, will ply on the following routes: Howrah-Bolpur-Rajgir (Nalanda)-Pataliputra (Patna)-Varanasi (Sarnath)-Gaya-Howrah; Bangalore-Mysore-Hassan (Space Facility, Belur, Halebid, Shravanbengola)- Hubli-Gadag (Hampi)-Bijapur (Gole Gumbaz)- Bangalore; Chennai- Puduchcheri- Tiruchichirappali- Madurai- Kanniyakumari -Thiruvananthpuram- Ernakulam- Chennai; and Mumbai- Ahmedabad- (Lothal)- Bhavnagar (Palitana) -(Alang)- Gir-Diu (Somnath-Veraval)-(Junagarh)-Rajkot-Mumbai.

Suburban bounty for Kolkata; Mumbai and Chennai get a share too

NEW DELHI : If Miss Mamata Banerjee’s home city had been expecting more metro and suburban services, the minister did not disappoint Kolkata in her budget even as Mumbai and Chennai also got their share of new and additional services.


Apart from 34 new services in Kolkata Metro, the minister announced introduction of 50 new suburban services in the city. The railways minister proposed to set up Kolkata Rail Vikas Corporation (KRVC) for improving Kolkata’s suburban railway system.
It will raise funds through banks and other financial institutions, municipal corporation and other stakeholders on the lines of Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation.

“I believe, this single measure (KRVC) will kickstart Kolkata’s return to its days of glory,” Miss Banerjee said, expressing hope that it would bring transformation to the suburban transport system in the city that needs “to upgrade its entire suburban system with better, faster and more number of train services, including 15-car trains”.

She also announced setting up of a core committee to closely monitor progress of ongoing works at four sections of the only metro project with the railways ~ Kolkata Zonal Metro Railway. These include Naopara to Barasat via Bimanbandar, Baranagar to Barrackpore and Baranagar to Dakshineswar, Dum-Dum Airport to New Garia via Rajerhat; and Joka to BBD Bagh via Majerhat.

Seven new surveys will also be undertaken for new lines of Kolkata Metro. The surveys will be for connectivity of Kolkata Metro to Joka-Diamond Harbour, Baruipur-Kavi Subhash, Howarh Maidan to Serampore via Dankuni and Singur, Howrah Maidan-Belur, Howrah Maidan-Santragachi-Dhulagarh, Joka-Mahanayak Uttam Kumar; and Barrackpore to Kalyani. Two non-stop trains will also be introduced between Bardhman and Howrah. The minister proposed to introduce running of a peak time local to BBD Bagh from Bongaon/ Krishnanagar.

The areas where 50 additional suburban services will be run in Kolkata include Howrah-Uluberia, Howrah-Midnapore, Howrah-Kharagpur, Howrah-Singur, Howrah-Memari, Howrah-Barddhaman, Howrah-Haripal-Tarakeswar, Howrah-Kolaghat, Howrah-Sarupnagar, Sealdah-Canning/Jaynagar Majilpur, Sealdah-Kakdwip-Namkhana, Sealdah-Sonarpur, Sealdah-Baruipur-Diamond Harbour, Sealdah-Barasat-Hasnabad, Sealdah-Thakurnagar, Sealdah-Barasat-Bongaon, Sealdah-Naihati-Ranaghat-Gede, Sealdah-Shantipur-Krishnanagar, Sealdah-Kalyani, Sealdah-Barrackpore, Sealdah-Budge-Budge, Sealdah-Dankuni, Bongaon-Ranaghat-Shantipur, Howrah-Seorraphuli-Bandel and Sealdah-Basirhat.

In Chennai, the railway minister proposed to run nine additional services. These include Chennai- Beach-Gummidipundi, Gummidipundi-Chennai Central, Avadi-Chennai Beach, Chennai Central-Tiruvallur, Tiruvallur-Chennai Central. Chennai Beach-Tambaram is proposed to be extended to Chengalpattu.

Ten additional services will be run in Secunderabad area. These services include Falaknuma-Lingampalli, Lingampalli-Hyderabad and Hyderabad-Falaknuma sections. Besides this, the minister announced that 83 suburban services in Secunderabad area will be augmented from the present 6-car to 9-car services. In Delhi area, the minister proposed to run two additional services on Delhi-Ghaziabad section.
Miss Banerjee proposed to develop integrated suburban railway networks in large cities like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Chennai for bringing together suburban railway, metro railway and other rail infrastructure under a single integrated system. “This will provide faster, efficient, affordable and comfortable transportation to the citizens,” she said adding that this concept will be introduced in those cities where suburban system exists. The minister also proposed to strengthen the suburban system of Hyderabad-Secunderabad by implementing six projects under MMTS Phase II.

Rlys surplus projected to rise by 28 per cent

NEW DELHI : Indian Railways, the world's second largest public sector employer, expects a surplus of revenue over expenditure to rise by over 28 per cent to over Rs 5,258 crore next fiscal on the back of higher traffic receipts.
The surplus in 2011-12 is expected at Rs 5,258.41 crore, a growth of 28.11 per cent over the revised estimate of Rs 4,104.50 crore for the current year, according to the Railway Budget 2011-12 presented in Parliament today. This increase in surplus is expected on account of greater gross traffic receipts.
Gross traffic receipts are projected to be Rs 1,06,239 crore in the next fiscal, up 12.02 per cent from the revised estimate of Rs 94,840.44 crore in 2010-11. According to the Budget presented by Railways minister Miss Mamata Banerjee, the total receipts of the Indian Railways is also to witness an increase of 12.6 per cent in 2011-12 at Rs 1,09,393.13 crore. This is against a revised projection of Rs 97,151.20 crore for the current fiscal.
As per the explanatory memorandum of the Railway Budget, the total working expenses of her ministry in FY12 will be Rs 96,450 crore.
This is an increase of 10.61 per cent over the revised figure of Rs 87,200 crore in the current fiscal.
The total expenditure of Railways is stated to go up by 10.6 per cent during the next fiscal to Rs 97,400 crore. The revised total expenditure for the current fiscal is Rs 88,129.34 crore. As per the minister, the operating ratio of the Railways will come down to 91.1 per cent 2011-12, from the 92.1 per cent revised estimate made for 2010-11. Presenting the Railway Budget, Miss Banerjee had said that there will be no hike in passenger fare and freight rates. The budget for next year proposes to have the highest ever Plan outlay of Rs 57,630 crore, with Rs. 9,583 crore provided for new Railway lines.
The minister announced 1300 km of new lines, 867 km doubling of lines and 1017 km gauge conversion as target in 2011-12. She also announced introduction of 56 new Express Trains, three new Shatabdis and nine Duronto trains.

Rail stocks witness steep fall after Budget
Rail stocks today fell sharply by up to 14 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the Railway Budget 2011-12 announcement, which according to market players failed to bring any great surprises for investors.
Shares of companies related to Indian Railways, including Kalindi Rail Nirman, Titagarh Wagons, Kernex Microsystems (India) emerged as the major laggards. Kalindi Rail Nirman shed 13.74 per cent to finally end the day at Rs 116.45. In intra-day session, the stock plunged by 17.77 per cent hitting a 52-week low of Rs 111 on the BSE. Similarly, the wagon manufacturer Titagarh Wagons shares dipped by 13.06 per cent to settle at Rs 331.80. “The Railway Budget sounds ambitious to state the least but given the track record, especially of last year, implementation seems unlikely again. For instance, the minister targets 700 km of rail line addition in financial year 2012, compared to 180 km average,” IIFL-India Private Clients Head (Research) Mr Amar Ambani said.
He further added that no change in passenger rates was along the expected lines as part of the populist measure. “All-in-all, a negative Budget on expected lines”, Mr Ambani said. Further, railway equipment provider Kernex Microsystems (India) closed the day at Rs 94.60, down by 4.97 per cent. Heavy equipment major Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML) and Stone India were other losers for the sector shedding 2.90 per cent and 7.53 per cent, respectively.
Voicing Mr Ambani's opinion, MAPE Securities Head (Research) Mr Kislay Kanth said: “There are very few revenue enhancement strategies and plan to reduce the losses, since rates for freight and passengers could not be increased in an inflationary environment.”
However, bucking the trend were Container Corporation of India and Gateway Distriparks whose shares rose by 3.15 per cent and 0.65 per cent to close the day at Rs 1,130 and Rs 115.85, respectively.
Meanwhile, after a volatile session, the BSE benchmark index Sensex ended the day at 17,700.91, up 68.50 points from its previous close.
Railway Board and the fiscal mess

SIR, ~ The article, “Member hand behind financial tailspin” (The Statesman, 24 February) cites irrefutable instances of the Railways’ financial maladies.
It is unlikely that the minister will provide for remedial measures in the Railway budget. Mamata Banerjee has done little or nothing since she took over as Railway minister in May 2009. She cut her teeth into politics 20 years ago with the singular mission of removing the CPI-M from power in West Bengal. When she realised that her original party, the Congress, was not willing to accept the challenge, she floated the Trinamul Congress. To my mind, the post of West Bengal’s chief minister is not her target. Her actual ambition is to get rid of the CPI-M.
yours, etc.,
N K Dasgupta,
Kolkata
24 february.

Revamp the board

SIR, ~ The report, ‘Member hand behind financial tailspin’ (24 February) is really alarming. Corruption and irregularities in the functioning of the Railway Board have made the country’s largest transport network extremely vulnerable. The Railway Board direly needs to be reformed. It is the centre of vested interests. The members function according to their whims. It is quite apparent that the board is protected by the political masters; otherwise such acts of brazen corruption, as exposed in your report, would not have taken place.
Railway finances are in a state of disarray. One major reason is extensive corruption. The other is that fares have not been raised for years together. Because of decrepit finances, the provisions on safety are seldom implemented. Mamata Banerjee has inaugurated several new projects and tracks; but they are yet to get off the ground. A marginal increase in fares is unlikely in an election year; yet it can yield a fair amount of revenue.
A special drive needs to be undertaken to weed out corruption in the Railway Board. Convincing reforms should be introduced to revamp the functioning of the board which arguably can even be abolished.
yours, etc.,
Saroj Upadhyay,
Kolkata, 24 february.
Undaunted Maoists

Wednesday 2 February, 2011

RDSO, Zonal Railways and Railway Board take the system seriously

As Indian Railways continues to deploy Electronic Interlocking based application and modernize vital train control installations. It becomes all the more critical that how maintenance function and software updates are undertaken, how the different software versions are maintained by Indian Railway's signalling dept. It is imperative that RDSO, Zonal Railways and Railway Board take the subject of configuration management system seriously.

1. Has Indian Railways considered putting in place proper software versioning or configuration management system which keeps track of different versions of signalling vendors.

2. Does RDSO or Railway Board Signalling Directorate officials know which sites are upgraded with the latest software of electronic application and what reports are available.

3. Is there a proper methodology or process being followed when software updates happen at the sites and in different zonal railways.

4. What validations are in place when software updates are deployed.

The issue is neither RDSO nor CSTE of any Zonal Railways are making sincere efforts to keep track of various versions of vital electronics and electronic inter lockings.

Tuesday 1 February, 2011

Kashmir Rail Link : A Bureaucratic Disaster...

Kashmir Rail Link : A Bureaucratic Disaster...

"The Railways has always operated from a position of strength. This would be the first time when we will be announcing to the whole world that we were totally wrong. I do not think we can do that...!"

“Can we afford to tell the Prime Minister we’ve made a serious mistake? But mentioning costs could put us behind bars... the Railways will lose credibility... and it will amount to not a national but an international catastrophe...!”

NEW DELHI : These are some of the startling fears expressed by senior-most Railway officials connected with the bungled 'Kashmir Rail Link Project' in a brainstorming session organised in June 2008 by Mr Shriprakash, then general manager, Northern Railway. The official audio-recordings of the event, reveal not only the construction fiasco along the most crucial 120-km Katra-Banihal stretch of the national project ~ where work remains at a virtual standstill ~ but also the beginnings of a bureaucratic cover-up that continues even on Minister for Railway Km. Mamata Banerjee's watch.

By June 2008, six years after the project to link the Kashmir Valley by rail to the rest of the country was fast-tracked and a year after it was supposed to be completed, the 120 KM stretch had only seen 10 per cent progress amidst widespread fiascoes ~ collapsing tunnels and portals, escalating expenditure and contractor claims ballooning to over Rs. 1,200 crore. The root of the problem lay in the engineering plan itself. For six years, top officials, eager to award contracts, had ignored warnings, rushed into a hit-and-miss construction plan along the crucial stretch without relevant geo-technical data, and prevented scrutiny of the ensuing disaster by presenting a false picture of progress.

By 2008, however, a chief engineer of the project, Mr. A K Verma, had not only blown the whistle but also presented the Railway Board with an alternative alignment plan that laid bare the engineering blunder and forced the Member Engineering, Mr. S K Vij, to suspend work and order a review. The alternative solution sought to substantially reduce not only costs by thousands of crore rupees but also the length from 126 to 68 km, the number of bridges from 94 to seven and tunnels from 64 to eight. This was to be achieved by avoiding a serpentine route and, instead, tunnelling straight through the centre of the mountains at a sharper gradient to safeguard against landslides and reduce contact along seismic fault-lines.

The recordings of the brainstorming session show several jittery bureaucrats who were involved in the bungled plan since its inception banding together to prevent its abandonment in favour of the chief engineer's scheme. During the session, Mr. R R Jaruhar, who had, with Mr. Rakesh Chopra, held key posts overseeing the six-year fiasco, expressed fears of being put behind bars if costs were compared and stated that the Prime Minister had been heard saying that if the Railways could build a railway line in Kashmir they could do anything. "Do you want to go back and tell him that, Sir, we have made a serious mistake? Can you afford to say this...?" asked Mr. Jaruhar.

The admissions of Mr. Ankush Krishan and Mr. Anurag Mishra, the managing directors of IRCON and KRCL respectively, the two PSUs incharge of construction, show the nature of the "mistake" ~ contracts were signed and construction rushed into in 2003 without basic investigations, survey maps, contour sheets or aerial satellite maps, by "betting" on the geology and topography and making "adjustments" on the ground. Rather than allow for the examination of the chief engineer's solution and admit the fiasco, the consensus of the brainstorming session submitted to the Railway Board by Mr. SriPrakash was that the original plan should not be abandoned.

"The Railways has always operated from a position of strength. This would be the first time when we will be announcing to the whole world that we were totally wrong. I do not think we can do that...!" said Mr. Anurag Mishra, managing director of Konkan Railways Corporation Limited.

The cover-up has only gathered steam since. Chief engineer Mr. A K Verma, who was kept away from the brainstorming session by his general manager Mr. Shriprakash, was soon handed transfer orders. His proposal was never examined by the expert committee set up to do so. The original alignment has been maintained, despite even the compromised expert committee finding 75 per cent of it worthy of being scrapped, and Mr. E Sreedharan, Chief of Delhi Metro warning that costs would escalate four to five times, that the resultant alignment would be unstable, and the high bridges would be a security threat.

The latest Northern Railway's monthly report shows that progress along the 120 km is negligible; even the stability of the slopes alongside the planned Anji and Chenab bridges have not yet been determined.

However, current chief administrative officer of the project Mr. R K Gupta has, stated that construction is in "full swing" and that Northern Railway is confident of meeting its 2017 completion-date target. His optimism is well in line with that exhibited by earlier project officials who kept promising the government that construction would be complete by 15 August 2007 even as failure and infructuous expenditure continued on the ground.