"I take the vision which comes from dreams
and apply the magic of science and mathematics,
adding the heritage of my profession
and my knowledge of nature’s materials,
to create a design".....
This little incomplete poem was found pinned to a site hut during the construction of the Konkan railway.
Apart from Alexander Frater's book 'Chasing the monsoon', Chris Tarrant's narrated Extreme Railway documentary covers a lot about Konkan, visually. 100's of years ago Britishers tried building one, but failed and gave up due to terrain and overall geographical factors.
Mr. E. Sreedharan’s popularly known as the Railway Man has been hailed as the messiah of new-age infrastructure projects and his success stories have become railway engineering benchmark. Konkan railway being one of them.
Sreedharan and his team had to negotiate with more than 42,000 landowners across hundreds of small fishing and farming communities. Even though, there were countless hassle, it improved education, transport and employment section rapidly in the 3 states.
There were accidents, landslides and derailments. Many died of malaria and snakebite
As Arabian Sea on one side and lush green Sahyadri mountain range on other, more than 2000 big and small bridges and 92 tunnels were constructed. At the time of completion all the longest tunnel of India were present on this line and third tallest viaduct in Asia when the line was completed.
The completion of the Konkan Railway was a blessing for Konkan region, redeemed in the 50th year of the India's Independence. The first train on the completed track was flagged off on January 26, 1998, Republic Day. 30 days from today it will celebrate 20 years.
As Jagatsinh Parmar rightly mentioned " In lifetime, do have a train-journey of Konkan Region in monsoon, before you die.You will end up defining your life in totally different way for sure"
Image of a
A train passing by Vashishti River and approaching Chiplun.
Parshuram Ghat, Monsoon of 2014, NH-66.
