The expert panel has also stressed the desirability of constituting another committee comprising representatives of Northern Railway, Konkan Railways, IRCON and Geological Survey of India to “examine, refine and finalize the realignments suggested” so as to ensure that major faults are crossed at right angles or in the range of 70 to 110 degrees, and that the line at other places is kept as far away from geographical faultlines as possible.

If the government takes the expert consultant’s advice, it may not be possible to save more than 10-15 km of the original alignment, a ministry source said. Adopting the new alignment will mean abandoning at least Rs 250 crore worth of works already executed on the section.

Surprisingly, the Ravindra committee has expressed satisfaction with the stability of the slopes of the Chenab bridge, subject to further field investigations and studies. “Considering the importance of the structure, field investigations and studies need to be done before recommencement of work on the bridge,” the panel has said. Rail Bhavan had halted work on the bridge — at 359 m from the river bed, billed the highest in the world — last year.

Sources said the ministry would want to establish the feasibility of constructing the Chenab bridge before going in for a re-alignment.

“The studies for the Chenab bridge will take close to a year. Once the feasibility of the bridge is established, the geo-technical investigations, land acquisition and forest clearances for the new alignment would take a minimum of two years. Only then will construction begin. Even by conservative estimates, the project will be delayed by at least 10 years, causing a huge escalation in costs,” said a source.

... contd.