It took a long time coming, but last Thursday?s Cabinet approval of a Rs 17,700-crore loan from Japan for building the western arm of the dedicated freight corridor (DFC) means that the project may finally start in earnest. The ambitious project has been in the planning for over four years, and the railway ministry has already taken numerous approvals from the Cabinet. The DFC, with its electrified lines reserved solely for running freight trains, will transform the way the railways runs its goods transport business and more importantly, will end the logistical nightmare of industrial hubs. Of special importance is its western arm, covering the 1,483-km distance between Mumbai and Tughlakabad, linked with the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor.
Although the efficacy of the DFC has never been in question, the project has courted controversy ever since it was conceptualised in 2005. Debates over its ownership pattern and funding mode had to be finally quelled by setting up a group of ministers to decide on the issues. Meanwhile the finalisation of the funding pattern too has taken a long time. The railways, which until a year back boasted of a Rs 25,000-crore cash surplus, was undecided on whether to build the corridor on its own or use the public private partnership route. Even after the Japanese government indicated its willingness to invest in the corridor, the loan has taken a good three years to materialise. The years of dilly-dallying have already meant that the cost of constructing the two arms of the corridor has shot up tremendously?from an initial estimate of Rs 22,000 crore in 2006, it is now expected to need over Rs 40,000 crore. The entire project has also been hijacked by these delays and is now scheduled to be finished by 2017, compared to the earlier expectation of wrapping it up in the next four to five years.
With the financial security from the Japanese loan, it?s essential that the actual construction should be taken up at the earliest, instead of charting out new plans and blueprints. For after facing such huge time and cost overruns and given its own debatable finances, the railways can?t afford to lose the DFC in details again.
surabhi.prasad@expressindia.com