RailEnquiry

New Delhi: The Indian Railways has ignored safety concerns in another project. The 125 km-long Rishikesh-Karnprayag rail link, inaugurated in November, 2011, has been red flagged by a railways chief engineer, Alok Verma, who has said that it was a disaster in waiting. He said that an all important geological study has not been done in an area that is in seismic zone 4 and is landslide prone.
In a letter to the railways, Verma wrote, "...Geological conditions will force changes in the alignment. This will result in safety hazards at tunnels and bridges." Verma also said that two-thirds of the alignment between Rishikesh and Karnprayag runs along fault lines.
Former Railway Board member SK Vij also said, "If the railway doesn't do a geological study, this area is in seismic zone 4 and is landslide prone. It will come to grief."
CNN-IBN also has the executive summary of the Rs 4,300 crore project in which the railways has accepted its mistake.
It says, "The area traversed by the proposed alignment is situated in a hilly terrain made up of rocky strata. The geological survey of this area has not been carried out."
Clearly the deadlines will not be met and escalation of costs cannot be ruled out. But yet again the big question is as to why is the Railways ignoring safety concerns in yet another project.