Recently, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal reviewed the progress of various sections of the Dedicated Freight Corridor Project on both Eastern and Western DFC corridors. Indian Railways officials gave inputs about the project progress being made in all the DFC sections as well as some of the challenges being faced by the national transporter in getting work completed in certain sections. Goyal said to ensure that the completed project is handed over to the nation by June 2022, the DFC project needs to be monitored on a daily basis. As the DFC project completion gathers momentum, development of freight terminals along the corridor should also be given emphasis to boost business operations for all stake holders, he said.
The national transporter is developing dedicated freight corridors in a bid to provide exclusive movement on fast speeds for freight trains. In the first phase of the DFC project, the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) is constructing the Western DFC (1504 Rkm) as well as Eastern DFC (1856 Rkm including PPP Sonnagar-Dankuni section).
According to the Railway Ministry, the Eastern DFC will start from Sahnewal near Ludhiana and terminate at Dankuni in West Bengal. The corridor will pass through the states of Punjab, UP, Haryana, Bihar and Jharkhand. While the Western DFC will link Dadri in UP to Jawaharlal Nehru Port in the financial capital, Mumbai. It will traverse through the states of UP, Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra of Western DFC and Eastern DFC (excluding the PPP Sonnagar-Dankuni section) i.e. by June 2022, 2800 Rkm will be commissioned.
According to the Railway Ministry, the DFC project is being seen as a game-changer in India’s economic development. Recently, two DFC sections on Eastern and Western Corridors were dedicated to the nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. These DFC sections are Rewari – Madar section on the Western corridor and New Khurja – New Bhaupur section on the Eastern corridor.