Big milestone for Indian Railways’ dedicated freight corridor (DFC) project! The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFFCIL), which is the implementing body of the DFC project under the Ministry of Railways has recently achieved an important milestone for the project completion of DFC. According to information shared by Indian Railways, the first traction sub-station (TSS) of 63 MVA (mega volt ampere) was charged at Biruni near Tundla on the 343 km Khurja-Bhaupur section of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC). Along with this, 2 X 25 KV overhead equipment (OHE) from Biruni to Dariyapur of a length of 66 km has been charged. This development is an important milestone because it will pave way for operation of freight trains pulled by electric locomotives on that section.
As many as 45 TSS have been planned along the entire length of the DFC project. The Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC), which spans from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai to Dadri, accounts for 25 TSS and the EDFC, which spans from Ludhiana to Sonnagar accounts for 20 TSS.
The WDFC spans across a distance of 1504 km, while the EDFC, excluding the Sonnagar – Dankuni PPP portion, has an approximate distance of 1328 km. The OHE at WDFC has a height of 7.4 meters, in contrast to the present Indian Railways’ OHE, which is of 5.5 meters for the double stack container movement over flat wagons. DFC project has a provision of 2 x 25 KV OHE in order to undertake higher haulage at higher speeds. However, the present Indian Railways’ network has 25 KV capacity of OHE. Haulage refers to the business of transportation of goods by either road or rail. The entire DFC network is slated to be completed by the year 2021.
Timeline of the WDFC:
• On August 15, 2018, the first double stack container goods train was successfully run between the 190 km Ateli – Phulera section
• On December 30, 2018, a trial run on the 306 km Madar (Ajmer) – New Rewari – Kishangarh Balawas section was completed
• By March 31, 2020, the Madar – Palanpur section will be completed
• The Palanpur to JNPT (Mumbai) section will be completed by the year 2021.
Timeline of the EDFC:
• On November 30, 2018, A freight train trial run was conducted on the 194 km Bhadan- Khurja section
• By November 30, 2019 the Bhadan- Bhaupur section will be completed
• By December 31, 2020 the Bhaupur- Mughalsarai section will be completed
• The Mughalsarai- Sonnagar section will be completed by the month of December 2020.