Konkan Railway - Definition and Overview

The Konkan Railway (KR) is a zone of the Indian Railways which operates along the Konkan coast of India.

It is constituted as a separately incorporated railway, with its headquarters at Belapur CBD (Navi Mumbai). At present [5/99] it consists of a single 760km route from Roha to Mangalore along the western coast of India (the Konkan region). The route is a single-line track, and currently not electrified. It has been designed for high-speed traffic (160 km/h). It is now [5/99] open to goods and passenger traffic. KR does not have divisions like the other IR zones, but it has two regions with headquarters at Ratnagiri and Karwar. The Ratnagiri region extends from Roha to Sawantwadi, while the Karwar region extends from Pernem to Thokur (the latter being where SR territory begins, a few stations north of Mangalore).

Note: Although KR is currently single-line, KR and SCR lines run parallel from Majorda to Madgaon, making that section a double-line.

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Image:KR_Tivim.jpg

A monsoon morning at Tivim Station (Goa State) on Konkan Railway. August 2004.

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Image:KR_Ro-Ro_service.jpg

Konkan Railway operates a RoRo (roll on /roll off) service for lorries that wish to avoid the treacherous National Highway between Honavar and Mumbai.