India’s costliest train to nowhere

The Kashmir Line connecting Jammu & Kashmir to New Delhi is set to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 26 January. This vanity project has been described by a section of retired railway engineers as the most expensive, most unsafe and least profitable railway line in the world. The mood of the people in Kashmir, who had rejoiced at the announcement, changed once they learnt that all passengers from Srinagar would have to disembark at Katra and undergo a security check before boarding a new train to complete the journey. Traders and fruit growers of the valley, who thought it would help move their produce, were shocked to learn that no goods trains will run on this rail link.

The Kashmir Valley Fruit Growers Cum Dealers’ Union has described it as a joke. A bad one. Why has such a crucial link—which has taken over two decades to build and whose average construction cost has been a staggering Rs 8,000 crore per kilometre, making it the costliest single-track railway line in the world—failed to provide a goods train for the transportation of essential items? Alok Verma, retired chief engineer in the Indian Railways, points out design defects that defy the imagination. “Why did the Railway Board choose an outdated gradient of 1 in 80, despite global advancements allowing gradients as steep as 1 in 30? By doing so, it has limited train speed to a sluggish 100 km/h whereas modern lines achieve speeds of 200–250 km/h on steeper gradients,” he says.

“This antiquated approach is compounded by the line’s inefficient 111- km length to cross a 50 km-wide stretch, reflecting a lack of basic engineering foresight. The result is the line can accommodate only 10–12 pairs of trains daily under optimal conditions—one-third the capacity of typical mountain railways, forcing the railways to opt for shorter platforms, limited loop lines and the reduction of the length of trains. This under-utilisation gave short shrift to the much-needed goods line,” Verma explains.

Safety experts have also questioned excessive slope cuttings and the number of tunnels and bridges. While the global benchmark is said to be 15–30 per cent, 97.6 per cent of the Kashmir Line goes through tunnels, bridges and steep cuttings. There are as many as 927 bridges and 38 tunnels in this 272-km long rail route. Such engineering excess complicates rescue operations in emergencies; with the line located in a landslide-prone region, there is a corresponding increase in risks. Fire hazards in tunnels, Verma claims, remain inadequately addressed. To mitigate safety risks, the speed and length of trains may now be severely restricted, further undermining the line’s utility.

Additionally, why has the crucial load deflection test—in which sensors are placed to check the strain and stress levels that the bridge can endure—not been undertaken yet, not even on the world’s highest arch bridge over the Chenab river? Load deflection tests are imperative to assess the long-term strength and stability of a bridge as well as measure its strength against powerful earthquakes, high velocity winds and hydrological impacts caused by water level increase.

Railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has been preening while pointing out that the height of the Chenab bridge is 35 metres higher than the Eiffel Tower. But this arch bridge is supported by only two columns on either side!

The expert Shreedharan Committee had questioned the safety and stability of the bridge built over a 359-metre-gorge. They had observed that the site conditions are so adverse and complex that the stability of the slopes cannot be established even with the most advanced technology globally available.

This could be one of the reasons why the Chenab bridge, which was scheduled to be completed in 2006 was completed 18 years later, in 2024. The railways conducted a trial run of an eight-coach passenger train over the Chenab bridge on 20 June 2024. Verma claims to have written two letters to Vaishnaw in August and September 2024 asking how the Commissioner of Railway Safety (Northern Circle) cleared two sections of the Kashmir train link without having conducted load deflection tests on all new bridges (excluding the ones which are replicas of existing bridges that have already been tested).

Verma believes that four to six test trains, each one-third the size of a normal passenger train, should be in operation for at least the first 12 months after it has been established that all the bridges, tunnels and other structures on the line have been built according to design specifications and up to required quality standards. Additionally, appropriate field tests should also be carried out to check the efficacy of rock bolting and grouting. It needs to be pointed out that this line has already suffered enormous setbacks.

Changes had to be made because of incorrect alignment, and several bridges collapsed while under construction. This saw costs escalating from the initial estimate of Rs 2,500 crore in 1994–95 to over Rs 40,000 crore, with the Chenab bridge alone costing over Rs 14,000 crore. To fully grasp the implications of these figures visà-vis the abysmally low capacity of the Katra–Banihal railway line, it needs to be pointed out that it is costing the exchequer 21 times more than a major two-lane highway would have.

Asking how CRS and railway engineers could clear the Chenab bridge without the requisite load test, Verma has demanded the appointment of an independent panel of experts to supervise tests on the Chenab, Anji Khad and other bridges. Lawyer activist Prashant Bhushan sent a legal notice to the railway minister pointing out that the Kashmir Himalayas are known to be highly landslide-prone. Keeping this in mind, the expert committee set up by the railways had ensured that the railway line stretching from Banihal to Sangaldan and from Sangaldan to Reasi were opened only after the commissioner of railway safety gave it a safety certification.

Similarly, load deflection tests were undertaken at the Pumban Bridge near Rameshwaram and the bridges on the eastern and western dedicated freight corridors. It is mandatory, he notes, that the same be done in this stretch as well.

In response to mounting criticism at having ignored such a crucial safety issue, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw took to social media, with a post on a load deflection test being conducted on India’s first cable-stayed 725-metre-long Anji Khad bridge over the Anji river.

Who is he fooling? It’s common knowledge that a load deflection test is an elaborate one that “can take anywhere between three to six months,” as per a senior railway official who did not wish to be named. “How can this train service be operationalised in a matter of weeks?” asked Verma at a press conference. Another valid worry is that both the Chenab and Anji Khad bridges have been built close to the Line of Control (LoC) and could be easily targeted by terrorists.

If these bridges collapse due to enemy attacks or earthquakes, the line could remain closed for up to seven or eight years. The railway minister agreeing to sit with Verma and other experts to resolve issues being raised for years just days before the inauguration not only reveals scant disregard for safety, it literally puts passengers’ lives on the line.