Even before the two original arms of the dedicated freight corridor (DFC) take full form, the railway ministry is now planning to begin work on two new freight corridors?the east-west and the north-south corridor, for which feasibility studies were recently submitted to the ministry.
The north-south corridor would run from Delhi to Chennai while the east-west corridor would cover places falling between Howrah to Mumbai. The two corridors covering a distance of about 3,500 km would cost a minimum of Rs 35,000 crore going by initial estimates of Rs 10 crore per kilometre. This time around railways however may decide to use the public private partnership route fully to finance the construction of these corridors.
Rail Bhawan sources told FE, that feasibility reports for the two new corridors have been submitted to the ministry by RITES. The railways is at present considering the proposals under the report but is however keen to begin work on them soon. A detailed plan for funding is also being worked out before any final action is taken.
Railway minister Lalu Prasad in this year’s Budget had also announced that the detailed feasibility studies for four new dedicated freight corridors were being carried out. ?Action would be taken to expedite sanction for construction of these corridors in 2008-09,? he had promised.
The decision to expedite work on the two new corridors comes despite the fact the lack of clarity in the railway ministry on how to go about funding the original two corridors. Construction of the earlier DFC covering about 2,762 km with two arms- the eastern corridor is still mostly paralysed due to a lack of a funding plan with the railways.