The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation India (DFCCIL) has started the land acquisition process for the East-West dedicated freight corridor (DFC) project that was announced by the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the FY27 budget, a senior DFCCIL official told FE.
The official said that discussions with various state governments have started pertaining to the land acquisition and to ensure road connectivity with the proposed stations along the corridor. “We will be engaging with six state governments, and the detailed project report (DPR) for this corridor is currently under process,” the official said.
Connecting the Coasts
In 2024, DFCCIL had submitted the DPRs for this project to the railways board, but due to the change in the route, the DFCCIL has been asked to update its previous report. The official said that the entire project is likely to be completed in 6 years – 1.5 years for land acquisition and 4.5 years for execution – with an estimated cost of Rs 2.47 lakh crore. “Just like the existing freight corridors, this project will have the capacity to handle 120 trains per day,” the official said.
In February, the FM proposed a new 2,052-km freight corridor connecting Dankuni (in West Bengal) to Surat (in Gujarat) to enable seamless, high-speed movement of goods. The project will cover states like West Bengal, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh. Land acquisition is an important aspect of the project since the previous two DFCs – eastern DFC and western DFC – faced inordinate delays due to slow land acquisition by state governments and prolonged environmental clearances.
Western DFC Completion
Meanwhile, the DFCCIL, on March 31, conducted the successful trial run on the last section (JNPT–New Saphale) of the western DFC, marking completion of the project. The official said that the commercial services should start in late April. “The track part is over. We are waiting for some electrical components from overseas which have been delayed due to the West Asia conflict. The western DFC should be operational in 15-20 days,” he said.
While the 1,337-km eastern DFC was fully commissioned in 2024, the western DFC was stuck due to critical last-mile land acquisition issues, contractor performance and in pending signaling and overhead electrification.
Both corridors handled an average of 406 trains per day in FY26. In March particularly, this number went up to 460 as against the design capacity to accommodate 480 trains. “We are already running 460 trains per day (both ways) on both corridors. The network is designed to handle 120 trains each way daily on each corridor, however, we might be running 130-140 trains in the near future by running long-haul (created by joining two freight trains) and multi-haul trains,” the official said.
As per a ASSOCHAM-ASCELA report, DFC accounts for about 15% of Indian Railways’ route length but it carries over 55% of total rail freight of India. “DFCs have significantly reduced transit time with western DFC cutting port-to-Delhi NCR travel by nearly half and eastern DFC improving coal movement. The modal share of rail stood at 18% in FY25, down from 36% in FY08. DFCs is helping railways regain market share from road transport,” the report said.