Dedicated Freight Corridor Project: Better freight transportation in coming days! Indian Railways’ ambitious Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) Project is all set to become a game changer in economic development of the country. The DFC Project involves two freight corridors- 1506 Route km long Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) and 1875 Route km long Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC). Currently, the national transporter is conducting trial runs of trains with trucks between New Rewari station in the state of Haryana and the DFC New Palanpur station in Gujarat. Watch video of the aerial view of the Dedicated Freight Corridor’s New Rewari station in Haryana, shared by the Railway Ministry:

According to Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL), the EDFC will start from Sahnewal, located near Ludhiana in the state of Punjab. It will pass via Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Bihar and Jharkhand before terminating at Dankuni in the state of West Bengal. The WDFC will provide connectivity from Dadri in the state of Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra. It will traverse through Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Following are some of the main objectives of Indian Railways’ Dedicated Freight Corridor Project:

  • Decongestion of the existing Indian Railways network
  • Increasing the average speed of freight trains from existing speed of 25 km per hour to speed of 70 km per hour
  • Running Heavy Haul trains (higher axle load of 25/32.5 Tonne) as well as overall load of 13,000 Tonne
  • Facilitating the operations of longer (1.5 km) as well as double stack container trains
  • Linking existing ports and industrial areas for faster movement of freight
  • Energy efficient as well as eco-friendly rail transport system
  • Increasing share of rail from existing 30 per cent to 45 per cent
  • Minimizing the logistic cost of transportation