The ‘New Bhaupur-New Khurja’ section of Indian Railways’ Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor will be inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi tomorrow. Besides, the Prime Minister will also inaugurate the operation control centre of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor at Prayagraj, according to a PTI report. The 351 kilometres long stretch of New Bhaupur-New Khurja is located in the state of UP and has been built at a cost of Rs 5,750 crore. The EDFC section of New Bhaupur-New Khurja will benefit local industries like the aluminium industry in Pukhrayan region of Kanpur Dehat, glassware industry of Firozabad, asafoetida production of Hathras, textile production and block printing of Etawah, dairy sector of Auraiya, pottery products of Khurja, as well as locks and hardware of Aligarh district.
The new EDFC section will also decongest the existing mainline between Kanpur-Delhi and will also enable the national transporter to run faster train services. The Prayagraj’s Operation Control Centre will act as the command centre for the entire Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor’s route length. According to the PMO, the state-of-the-art Operation Control Centre is one of the largest structures of its type globally with ergonomic design, modern interiors as well as best-in-class acoustics. The eco-friendly building has a green building rating of GRIHA4 and is constructed as per norms of the ‘Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan’.
The 1,856 km long EDFC starts from Sahnewal near the city of Ludhiana in the state of Punjab and the corridor will pass through the states of UP, Bihar, Haryana, and Jharkhand to terminate at Dankuni, West Bengal. It is being developed by DFCCIL, that has been set up as an SPV to build and operate the dedicated freight corridors. Besides EDFC, the corporation is also constructing the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC), which will be 1,504 route km long. It will connect Dadri in UP to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai. This corridor will pass through the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana and Rajasthan.