Close to 90 per cent of the dedicated freight corridors have been commissioned till 10 February 2024, the Parliament was informed last week.
Indian Railways has undertaken the ambitious project of constructing two Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs), namely Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors (EDFC & WDFC), to facilitate faster evacuation of freight traffic.
While the 1,506-km-long WDFC runs from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Terminal (JNPT) in Maharashtra, the 1,337-km-long EDFC runs from Ludhiana in Punjab to Sonnagar in West Bengal.
“Construction of EDFC has been fully completed and 1,220 km out of 1,506 km of WDFC has been completed,” Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
As of February 2024, a cumulative route length of 2,557 km has been completed out of the total of 2,843 km. Additionally, the Ministry of Railways has started train operations in the completed sections of two corridors.
The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) — a subsidiary of the Indian Railways and a special purpose vehicle set up to implement the project — has set a target to complete the WDFC by March 2024, barring a 109-km stretch between Vaitarna (river in Maharashtra) and Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT).
Notably, the work on the Western DFC stretch from Vaitarna to JNPT, which faced delays due to land acquisition issues, has commenced. The last mile stretch to JNPT is crucial for the full-scale commissioning of the Western-DFC.
Additionally, although the DFCCIL has completed the EDFC segment from Ludhiana to Sonnagar in Bihar, the envisioned extension spanning 538 kilometres to Dankuni in West Bengal via Gomoh and Andal will not be undertaken by the agency. The Ministry of Railways is currently exploring alternative options for this extension.
