Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC)

 Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) is a railway route, which is dedicated to freight

traffic movement only. ... Only freight trains run over DFC, stopping at designated
freight loading/ unloading terminals. No passenger train is supposed to run on the DFC.
 The Golden Quadrilateral or “GQ” was former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's
first dream project and is enshrined as the biggest infrastructure intervention in the
roadways sector in post-Independent India, making 5,846 km of highways with the start
of the first phase of the National Highways Development Project
 What is green corridor India?
Indian Railways. Greener rail corridor has been launched by the Indian Railways. The
North Western Railway has declared the Barmer-Munawab and Pipad Road-Bilara rail
routes in Rajasthan as Green Corridors. The 114 km long Rameswaram-Manamadurai
stretch in Tamil Nadu is the country's first green railcorridor.
 What are dedicated freight corridors of India?
The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) is a corporation
run by the Ministry of Railways (India) to undertake planning & development,
mobilisation of financial resources and construction, maintenance and operation of
the Dedicated Freight Corridors.
 What is the Golden Quadrilateral in India?
The Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) is a national highway network connecting many of the
major industrial, agricultural and cultural centres of India. It forms a
quadrilateral connecting the four major metro cities of India, viz., Delhi (north), Kolkata
(east), Mumbai (west) and Chennai (south).

Updated: Dec 29, 2018, 02.56 PM IST

Source:
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/railways/railways-to-
conduct-heavy-haul-train-trial-in-freight-corridor-on-sunday/articleshow/67299418.cms
Expediting the much-delayed Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project, the railways will
conduct a trial run of a goods train on the newly-completed 306 km section between Madar
(Ajmer) in Rajasthan and Kishangarh (Rewari) in Haryana in the western segment on
Sunday.
This section is a vital alignment on the Delhi-Mumbai corridor and aims to augment the

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transportation capacity of freight, besides hugely reducing the load on the existing rail
network that is congested with passenger and goods traffic.
Equipped for heavy-haul train operation with 25 tonne axle loads for the first time in the
country, the section contains 15 major bridges and 271 minor bridges and 177 Road Under
Bridges (RUB).
Currently, Indian trains haul a 22.5 tonne axle load while heavy-haul operations are carried
out only in the US, Canada, Brazil, Australia, China, Russia, South Africa, Sweden and
Norway.
The 306 km route has six newly-built freight stations - Dabla, Bhagega, Sri Madhopur,
Pachar Malikpur, Sakhun and Kishangarh and three junctions - Rewari, Ateli and Phulera.
The DFC project is crucial for Indian Railways as it faces stiff competition from the road
sector for the movement of goods. The shifting of goods from roads to rail will also save
precious fossil fuel which will be a boon for the environment.
The Rs 81,400 crore DFC project had got the Union Cabinet's green signal way back in 2006
and has since missed several deadlines due to various reasons, including procedural wrangles,
land acquisition and environmental clearances, among others.
The earlier targeted completion of the project was 2016-17. It was shifted to 2017-18 and
now has finally been set at March 2020.
Admitting the delay in the past, a senior railway official invovlved in the project said: "Work
is on in full swing now and we are hopeful of completing the project in 2020."
Stepping up its efforts, the DFC in November had completed the 194 km section from
Bhadan to Khurja (in Uttar Pradesh) of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC).
The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation (DFCC), a spcial purpose vehicle (SPV) has
been formed for planning, constructing, operating and maintaining the exclusive corridors for
the movement of goods.
While the Western DFC will cover 1,504 km from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust near Navi
Mumbai to Dadri in Uttar Pradesh via Vadodara-Ahmedabad-Palanpur-Phulera-Rewari, the
Eastern DFC covers 1,856 km from Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni, near Kolkata in West
Bengal, and will traverse the states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand.
The DFC, one of India's largest rail infrastructure projects, is expected to be the grand future
of the Indian economy with an increased number of freight trains in eastern and western
sectors of the country.
The Western DFC is being funded by Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA), while
the Eastern DFC from Mughalsarai to Ludhiana is being funded by the World Bank.
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 CONNECTING THE COUNTRY: DEDICATED FREIGHT CORRIDORS
Source:
http://www.makeinindia.com/article/-/v/connecting-the-country-dedicated-freight-
corridors
Spanning 66,030 route km, India’s rail network is the third-largest in the world. Further, India
is the fourth-largest carrier of freight globally.1 Daily, Indian Railways carries 23 million
passengers on 12,000 passenger trains while its 7,000 freight trains transport 3 million tonnes
of freight.2 Over 90% of coal utilised in the country is transported by the rail
network.3 Undeniably, the sector plays a critical role in the development of the economy.
DEDICATED FREIGHT CORRIDORS
‘Dedicated Freight Corridors’ are planned to be ‘freight-only’ corridors which will make it
cheaper, faster, and more reliable to move goods between industrial heartlands in the North
and ports on the Eastern and Western coasts. These freight-only railway lines along
congested transport corridors were envisaged to ramp up the average speed of freight, which
had reduced considerably to 20 kmph.
The conceptualization of Dedicated Freight Corridors can be understood clearly as one delves
into Indian Railways’ freight operations scenario in the past. It was majorly the Golden
Quadrilateral, linking the four metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Howrah
and its two diagonals (Delhi-Chennai and Mumbai-Howrah) comprising 16% of the route,
that carried over 52% of passenger traffic and 58% of freight traffic. This made the trunk
routes highly saturated, with line capacity utilisation reaching as high as 150%. Thereby,
these freight corridors were proposed to ensure a more reliable, economical and faster
transportation of goods.
The cost for these Dedicated Freight Corridors along the Eastern and Western routes,
spanning 3,360 route km, has been estimated at USD 12 Billion. With overall progress of
over 35% achieved so far, these corridors seek to bring a paradigm shift in Railway Freight
Operations in the country, thus providing relief to the heavily congested Golden
Quadrilateral.
A Special Purpose Vehicle, ‘Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited’
(DFCCIL) has been setup under the Ministry of Railways to facilitate the functioning of these
corridors.
To resolve the increasing need for road decongestion, accident reduction and ensuring energy
security, the Government has launched this initiative to aid growth of rail transportation in

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 India. The corridor will be built along the Golden Quadrilateral that connects Delhi, Mumbai,
Chennai, Howrah and its two diagonals (Delhi – Chennai and Mumbai – Howrah) that
constitute a total of 10,122 kms. These corridors carry the heaviest traffic and are highly
congested.4
With the construction of these Freight Corridors, Indian Railways will open new avenues for
investment and greater economic development. This will also lead to the construction of
industrial corridors and logistic parks along these routes, thereby making the industrial
ecosystem more competitive.
The new corridors will permit the trains to carry higher loads, in a more reliable manner.
These lines are also being built to maximize speeds to 100 km/hour, up from the current
average freight speed of 20 km/hour. They will carry a capacity of 6,000 to 12,000 gross tone
of freight trains. Additionally, the DFCs will also reduce transit time from freight source to
destination.
EASTERN DEDICATED FREIGHT CORRIDOR
The 1,856-km long Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor will be divided into two segments:
 An electrified double-track segment of 1,409 km between Dankuni in West Bengal and
Khurja in Uttar Pradesh
 A single line segment of 447 km between Ludhiana – Khurja – Dadri
The Corridor will pass through Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West
Bengal. 83% of contracts have already been awarded.
This project is expected to benefit the transportation of coal for power plants, steel, food
grains, finished steel and cement. The total traffic in ‘up’ direction is likely to reach 116
million tonnes and 28 million tonnes in ‘down’ direction in 2021-22, a significant part of
which would get diverted to the Dedicated Freight Corridor.6
In addition, Logistics Parks have also been planned in Kanpur and Ludhiana. These parks
will be built by a public – private partnership and will boast of best-in- class infrastructure, in
addition to a well-connected road and rail network.7
WESTERN DEDICATED FREIGHT CORRIDOR
Covering a distance of 1,504 km, from JNPT to Dadri via Vadodara-Ahmedabad- Palanpur-
Phulera- Rewari, Western DFC will pass through Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra
and Uttar Pradesh. It is proposed to join the Eastern Corridor at Dadri. All contracts for the
corridor have been finalised and are in progress.
The Western Corridor primarily comprises of container traffic from JNPT and Mumbai Port
in Maharashtra and other ports, including Pipavav, Mundra and Kandla in Gujarat. This
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corridor also facilitates transportation of fertilisers, food grains, iron and steel and cement,
among other commodities.8 The share of container traffic is expected to increase and reach a
level of 80% by 2021-22. Further, the rail share of container traffic on this corridor is set to
increase from 0.69 million TEUs (Twenty- foot Equivalent Units, an inexact unit used for
describing cargo capacity) in 2005-06 to 6.2 million TEUs in 2021-22.9
There are plans to set up Logistics Parks on the outskirts of Mumbai, especially near Kalyan-
Ulhasnagar area or Vashi – Belapur. Additionally, other parks have been proposed in Vapi,
Ahmedabad and Gandhidham in Gujarat, Jaipur and Delhi – National Capital Region. These
locations have been chosen since they are significant production centres and support
industries. They are also easily accessible by rail and road networks.10
THE ROAD AHEAD
The Ministry of Railways has plans to build four more Dedicated Freight Corridors. The
DFCCIL has been assigned the task to conduct preliminary engineering and traffic survey for
the proposed projects. Next in line are East – West Corridor (Kolkata – Mumbai) which will
be approximately 2,330 route km in length; North – South Corridor (Delhi – Chennai) of
approximately 2,343 route km; East Coast Corridor (Kharagpur-Vijaywada) close to 1,100
route km; and the Southern Corridor (Chennai - Goa) of approximately 899 route km.11
The commissioning of the DFC projects will not just help in revitalising the freight transport
in the country, but will also ensure an efficient, reliable and economical movement of goods.
The project is also likely to result in a significant reduction in the emission of greenhouse
gases and save over 450 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in first 30 years of operation