Dedicated Freight Corridor Project: Indian Railways’ freight transportation is all set to get better with the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project, which is said to be operational by India’s 75th Independence Day, next year. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal recently informed the parliament that when the nation celebrates its 75 years of independence, both the Dedicated Freight Corridors- Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) and the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) will be operational. Under the first phase of the DFC project, which is being executed by Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation India Limited (DFCCIL), 1504 Rkm WDFC and 1856 Rkm EDFC including the PPP section between Sonnagar-Dankuni are being constructed.
The EDFC will begin from Sahnewal. The corridor will pass via the states of Punjab, UP, Haryana, Bihar and Jharkhand. The EDFC will then terminate at Dankuni in the state of West Bengal. While the WDFC will connect Dadri to JNPT in the financial capital, Mumbai. The freight corridor will pass via Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra of both the DFCs (excluding the PPP stretch of Sonnagar – Dankuni). It is being said that 2800 Rkm will be commissioned by June 2022.
A few days ago, the Railway Minister in a written reply to a question in the parliament said that his ministry has approved the plan for preparing Detailed Project Report (DPR) for DFCs on the following Indian Railways routes:
- East Coast Corridor: Kharagpur – Vijaywada route of 1115 Km length
- East-West Sub Corridor: Bhusawal – Wardha – Nagpur – Rajkharswan – Kharagpur – Uluberia – Dankuni route of 1673 Km length and Rajkharswan – Kalipahari – Andal route of 195 Km length
- North South Sub Corridor: Vijaywada – Nagpur – Itarsi route of 975 Km length
According to the Railway Ministry, the DPR for these DFC sections will include the alignment of corridor, techno-economical studies, traffic catchment area, projected traffic, financial and economic rate of return, etc.