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Trains Are Best, Alok Kumar Verma, IRSE (Retd) Profile picture
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Nov 29 • 7 tweets • 5 min read
The Wasteland of Kerala Silverline

So the Kerala Govt has now officially stopped wanton expenditure of taxpayer money on the fictitious plan for Kerala Silverline.

People of Kerala must be feeling relieved after 3 anxious years

As I wrote in my open..

newsable.asianetnews.com/india/kerala-g…
..letter to the Minister of Railway, just 2 days before the above order was issued by Kerala Govt, the cause of this deceptive & fraudulent plan's existence is that Rly Bd granted In-principle Approval based on a thoroughly fabricated Feasibility Report..

..which KRDCL hurriedly submitted to Borad in June'2019 just 3 months after the Preliminary Feasibility Report (which was prepared under my guidance) stronly advising KRDCL against the plan was given to KRDCL

Worse, Rly Bd has doomed many mega projects..

..in the past 30 yrs that involve so much expenditure and that has so badly derailed plans for improvement of the existing IR network that IR has been pushed into a downward spiral from which it may find it very difficult to come out.

For details, pl see my posts in the links.
...Here are some pictures which capture what happened on Kerala Silverline, which I called in a public discussion a project from hell:

.....
...
...
#Kerala_Silverline
#SilverlineFeasibilityReport
#SilverlineDPR

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More from @trains_are_best

Trains Are Best, Alok Kumar Verma, IRSE (Retd) Profile picture
Nov 28
Road and Rail lines in the Border Regions of Himalayas

Inherently rail lines are more reliable and efficient than roads. As we go up in the Himalayas it is difficult to get speeds above 20 kmph even in fair weather.

In monsoon roads are frequently ..

theprint.in/defence/modi-g…
..blocked by landslides.

But with its utterly flawed alignments, that too on Broad Gauge, Rly Board has messed up all the ongoing seven projects.

India should go for a trans-Himalayan rail network on MG from north-west to northeast.

China is..

.. systematically building a rail network on its side of Himalayas which along with roads will serve a vast area from Sichuan to the western end of Tibet.

I am working on such a plan of lines in Himalayas in India.

#Himalayas
#Lines_in_Himalayas

Read 9 tweets
Trains Are Best, Alok Kumar Verma, IRSE (Retd) Profile picture
Nov 25
Thread
@AshwiniVaishnaw

My Open Letter to Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw Ji, distinguished Minister of Railways on the subject:

"The Kerala Silverline, the most deceptive scheme for any large-scale public rail project, and its implications for the nation's rail transportation system".. ImageImageImageImage
..This letter is in the larger context of how the thoughtlessly planned & executed mega schemes & projects for construction of highspeed & semi-highspeed lines on Standard Gauge, the DFCs and the strategically vital lines in the Himalayas are threatening the future of rail.. ImageImageImageImage
.. transportation particularly travel by passenger trains in India

You can download the PDF file of the letter and Annexure I and Annexure II from the links given below:
3/4
 #IndianRailways #railwayboard
#Rail_Infrastructure
#Kashmir_rail_link
#DFCs
#BulletTrains #HighSpeedRail
Read 11 tweets
Trains Are Best, Alok Kumar Verma, IRSE (Retd) Profile picture
Apr 29
Kerala Silverline: My take on Panel Discussion

People of Kerala get a bigger dose of disinformation as Suboth Jain bats for KRDCL.

There is the added dose of seize mentality: Rly Bd/Central Govt is not interested in raising speed on the existing lines & building new lines..
..for higher speed of trains, so go for loan from Jica even if it means building a standalone line on SG which will be subsidized for ever by the taxpayer for travel by the affluent.

So govt subsidy for the affluent by the taxpayer.

I will post a detailed analysis tomorrow.
..To R. V. G. Menon:

Sir, you came out swinging! Suboth Jain couldn't give straight answer to even question. For example, your question about existing trains not being able to run on the Standard Gauge Silverline.

#K_Rail #Kerala_Silverline
#AlignmentSurveys #GroundSurveys
Read 4 tweets
Trains Are Best, Alok Kumar Verma, IRSE (Retd) Profile picture
Apr 27
Kerala Silverline

Not a war of words: Let truth vanquish falsehood

This article today in Hindu says MD/KRDCL wrote to SYSTRA rejecting Alok Verma's report & asked "Systra to re-work the alignment and cost and submit a fresh report."

Good article..1/3

thehindu.com/news/national/…
..but would urge editors of Hindu to fully expose this campaign of disinformation. Please ask MD/KRDCL to substantiate his claim that this is Alok Verma's report.

The truth: It is Systra's report (See scan of the cover of the report).

Did Systra submit a fresh report? .. 2/3 Image
..If so, where is that report.

The truth: SYSTRA did not submit revised report. Thus, this report of 18.3.19 stands as the final Preliminary Feasibility Report.

I have clarified this in my recent press note of 25.4.22. Copy below... 3/3

#Campaign_of_Disinformation_by_KRDCL ImageImageImage
Read 5 tweets
Trains Are Best, Alok Kumar Verma, IRSE (Retd) Profile picture
Dec 1, 2021
I am an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur & IIT Delhi.

In 2006-08, I developed a solution to the problems that Indian Rly was facing in building the rail link to Kashmir.

My idea was examined and was being considered for implementation, but soon a vicious campaign to scuttle the..1/6
..process began.

I had to seek Court intervention. The Courts ruled that Railway Board acted against me for the malafide purpose of scuttling the review.

An Expert Committee appointed on orders of Delhi HC said that ongoing construction should be scrapped and my alignment..2/6
... should be adopted to start construction afresh. But, Rly Board refused to accept the unanimous recommendations of the committee.

Today, not just the Kashmir Rail Link Project but all 7 projects in Himalayas are in a deep mess because of the flawed alignment methodology..3/6
Read 16 tweets
Trains Are Best, Alok Kumar Verma, IRSE (Retd) Profile picture
Nov 26, 2021
K-Rail and Railway Board's history of approving projects without proper ground surveys & feasibility studies

With Railway Board still dragging its feet about rescinding the In-principle Approval for the K-Rail plan, it is necessary to ask why Railway Board refuses to learn..
.. lessons from its fiasco in Himalayas where since 1997, Rly Bd approved alignments for as many as eight new line projects in the challenging landslide-prone terrain without any ground surveys, on just paper alignments.

My post in the link above contains a detailed account.... ImageImageImageImage
..The latest victims of this approach are the plan for the semi-highspeed line in Kerala & the strategically important Bilaspur-Manali-Leh line.

#KeralaSemiHighspeedProject #Kashmir_rail_link #Chenab_Rail_Bridge #Ruling_Gradient #AlignmentSurveys #GeologicalSurvey #railwayboard ImageImageImage
Read 4 tweets

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