Konkan Railway needs major replacements to ensure safety, minister tells LS

The infrastructure of Konkan Railway Corporation Limited has become more than 25 years old, requiring major renewal of capital assets to ensure safety of traffic, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply on Wednesday.

Vaishnaw said the infrastructure replacement requires major capital expenditure and the five shareholders of KRCL - Ministry of Railways, Government of Maharashtra, Government of Karnataka, Government of Goa and Government of Kerala - have been approached by the Ministry of Railways to contribute for capital expenditure or to relinquish their share in favour of the ministry.

The minister replied to questions raised by BJP MP Kota Srinivas Poojary, who wanted to know the status of merger of Konkan Railway.

There are five shareholders in Konkan Railway Corporation Limited (KRCL) namely the Ministry of Railways, Government of Maharashtra, Government of Karnataka, Government of Goa and Government of Kerala, Vaishnaw said.

The infrastructure of KRCL has become more than 25 years old, requiring major renewal/replacement of capital assets to ensure safety of traffic including doubling and rehabilitation of tunnels. This requires major capital expenditure, he added.

According to Vaishnaw, to meet the capital expenditure, all the above shareholder state governments have been approached by the Ministry of Railways to contribute for capital expenditure in KRCL as per their share or to relinquish their share in favour of the Ministry of Railways.

Only the state government of Goa has conveyed willingness to relinquish its share, he said.