Chennai
Presently, works are in progress on the 1,856km Eastern DFC connecting Ludhiana and Dankuni and the 1,502km Western DFC connecting Dadri and Jawaharlal Nehru Port. “Like the other two corridors that are in progress, the Rs.1.04 lakh crore North-South DFC project is likely to take the foreign direct investment (FDI) route,” an official with Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) told DT Next.
According to him, even though the North-South corridor was initially planned to be implemented in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode, implementing it under FDI is also under consideration. DFCCIL is a special purpose vehicle under the administrative control of the railway ministry in charge of planning, developing and operationalising dedicated freight corridors in India.
Along with North-South corridor, East-West corridor (Kolkata-Mumbai) and East Coast corridor (Kharagpur-Vijayawada) have also been proposed. Since the govt has permitted 100% FDI in railway projects, the entire Western corridor is being funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency and a major section of the Eastern corridor is being funded by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
“The Preliminary Engineering Cum Traffic Survey (PETS) has been completed for the three new DFCs and it has been decided to construct the freight line parallel to the existing alignment and there will not be any surface crossings,” the official informed.
According to him, the salient feature of the DFC is that the goods trains can even go up to 100 km/ hour while the existing speed is just 25 or 26 km/hour. It may be noted that since the main trunk lines in the country are already saturated, DFC is essential for faster movement of goods.
DFC is expected to provide a paradigm shift in freight operation as it will result in reduction in unit cost of transportation due to higher efficiency and low energy consumption. Apart from efficiency, DFC network will also drive industrial growth and reduce carbon footprints.
Visit news.dtnext.in to explore our interactive epaper!
Download the DT Next app for more exciting features!
Click here for iOS
Click here for Android