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Trains Are Best, Alok Kumar Verma, IRSE (Retd) Profile picture
Trains Are Best, Alok Kumar Verma, IRSE (Retd)
@trains_are_best
Insights into how, in the past 25 years, ill-conceived policies, plans & projects pushed Indian Railways into a terminal decline.
May 18 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
THREAD

Vande Bharat train is the symbol of Narendra Modi's flawed & failed vision for the country's transportation infrastructure

The Vision;

6+ Lane Expressways criss-crossing the country

400 new airports

A separate network of 20,000 km of Bullet Train & Semi Highspeed.. ..lines on the alien Standard Gauge & a network of Dedicated Freight Corridors

Performance:

New E-ways were built at scorching pace but failed to improve public transport by buses.

Some new airports were built in tier 2 cities but failed to generate..

Jan 15, 2023 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
What a 20+ yr bonfire of public money!

When completed it will be:

World's costliest single line: > INR 30,000 crore to cross a distance of 50 km (So > INR 600 cr per km.

World's most unstable & unsafe line: How long will the tunnels, bridges & cutting built in crushed rocks.. ..glued & stitched together stand?

Will Rly Bd obtain safety clearance from the Commissioner of Railway Safety or a committee of its junior officers as it did for the Lumding-Silchar line in 2015?

Truly an engineering marvel in the distorted imagination of Rly Board!?

The..
Jan 14, 2023 • 4 tweets • 3 min read
Is development incompatible with preservation of the Himalayas?

Certainly not.

Actually, this is not the right question that many, including media, seem to be asking in the aftermath of the Joshimath tragedy.

The question should be: Are we adopting the right technological.. ..options?

This was the question which I examined while framing my proposal for changing the alignment of the Kashmir Rail Link project. This is also what I examined while dealing with the Railway's alignment for the line to Leh, Ladakh and the Char Dham lines, & also the plan..
Jan 13, 2023 • 10 tweets • 9 min read
Thread

My new bio

I saved the country from 3 incredibly wrong & wasteful projects & two ruinous policies of building highspeed lines on Standard Gauge & DFCs. But 7 projects continue.

I was the first to raise the above issues & pursued them ceaselessly against all odds .. ImageImageImageImage ..This endeavour is a work in progress because Rly Board may try to revive these projects & policies: Officially there is no clear announcement of their abrogation.

The 7 projects that continue are the projects to build the lines in the Himalayas in Kashmir, Uttarakhand & .. ImageImageImageImage
Jan 12, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
RISHIKESH -KARNAPRAYAG RLY PROJECT: Three More Reports of Cracks in Houses and Ground Subsidence

Since I wrote two days back, I have come across reports of cracks & subsidence at 3 more locations:

I) About 40 houses affected at Marora village..

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/dehradun/… ..near Rudraprayag.

2. About 100 houses (224 families) affected at Sweeth Village in Pauri district where a 13.5 km long tunnel is being excavated.

3. There are reports of cracks in houses & ground subsidence at Srinagar town also where another long..

Nov 29, 2022 • 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..

Nov 28, 2022 • 9 tweets • 6 min read
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..

Nov 25, 2022 • 11 tweets • 8 min read
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
Apr 29, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
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.
Apr 27, 2022 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
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
Dec 1, 2021 • 16 tweets • 10 min read
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
Nov 26, 2021 • 4 tweets • 7 min read
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
Nov 25, 2021 • 7 tweets • 9 min read
K-RAIL: WHY HAS RAILWAY BOARD NOT TAKEN ANY ACTION AGAINST MD/KRDCL FOR SUBMITTING FEASIBILITY REPORT BASED ON GOOGLE EARTH AND NO SURVEYS OF GROUND CONDITIONS & RIDERDHIP & DECIDING TO ADOPT STANDARD GAUGE?

Will Rly Board go on giving in-principle..1/3

english.mathrubhumi.com/news/kerala/e-… ..approvals in future also to projects involving this magnitude of public expenditure based on such fraudulent, concocted & cooked up feasibility reports?
.. 2/3

#Kerala_Silverline_Project
#KeralaSemiHighspeedProject
#AlignmentSurveys #IR_EngineeringCode
Jun 6, 2020 • 14 tweets • 7 min read
My plan for upgradation and expansion of the Indian Railway network:

1. Build about 15,000 km of 200-250 kmph lines to cover the GQ and it's diagonals & link other major cities. About half of this will be by upgrading the existing lines and half as new lines. Total estimated.. ...cost: About INR 5.0 lakh crore over a period of 7 to 10 yrs.

2. No more DFCs. Complete the ongoing Eastern and Western DFCs and use them (with some modifications) for carrying freight & slow passenger trains.

3. Drop all ongoing surveys and feasibility studies to build..
Feb 28, 2020 • 18 tweets • 9 min read
In the coming days, resolve of the Government of India and Railway Board to upgrade India's rly system to high speed (160-250 kmph) will be tested. Powerful foreign lobbies, which represent the interests of the manufacturers of airplanes and automobiles and the oil companies,.... ... have been trying to cripple the railways in India by preventing it from raising speed and line capacity. Their first success came in 2004-06, when the Govt decided to build the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors instead of a 200-250 kmph line which would have...