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Dedicated freight corridors
The resplendent Indian economy is poised to grow at an average of 8% in the next 3 years. Transport requirement in the country, being primarily a derived demand, is slated to increase with elasticity of 1.25 with GDP growth by 10 to 12% in the medium and long term range.
The resplendent Indian economy is poised to grow at an average of 8% in the next 3 years. Transport requirement in the country, being primarily a derived demand, is slated to increase with elasticity of 1.25 with GDP growth by 10 to 12% in the medium and long term range.
The Ministry of Railways is constructing a new Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) covering about 3,300 route km long two routes - the Eastern Corridor from Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni in West Bengal and the Western Corridor from Jawaharlal Nehru Port, in Mumbai, Maharashtra to Tughlakabad, Delhi/Dadri along with interlinking of two corridors at Khurja in Uttar Pradesh.
Upgrading of transportation technology, increase in productivity and reduction in unit transportation cost are the focus areas for the project. The commissioning of the two projects, spanning over 3360 route km, will not only help the railways regain its market share of freight transport but guarantee, at the same time, an efficient, reliable, safe and cheaper system of goods movement.
The Indian Railways’ Golden Quadrilateral comprises the railways network linking the four metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Howrah, along with its two diagonals (Delhi-Chennai and Mumbai-Howrah), adding up to a total route length of 10,122 km and carries more than 58 per cent of the railways’ revenue earning freight traffic.
The congestion on the Golden Quadrilateral is affecting railways’ efficiency and hence the need for dedicated freight corridors. The sanctioned cost of Western DFC is Rs 46,718 crore and that of the Eastern DFC is Rs 26,674 crore. The entire cost of the capital expenditure is being financed by the Ministry of Railways through debt and equity. Debt will be financed through loans from multilateral leading agencies.
Eighty-six per cent of the 10,548 hectares land required has been acquired and most environmental clearances obtained for the projects passing through nine States and 61 districts. By the end of the current financial year (2015-16), or mid-2016, most contracts for the Rs 81,459 crore projects are planned to be awarded.
Ministry of Railways plans to have four more dedicated freight corridors and has assigned the DFCCIL to undertake preliminary engineering and traffic survey (PETS) for them. These additional corridors are East-West Corridor (Kolkata-Mumbai) approximately 2,330 km; North-South Corridor (Delhi-Chennai) approximately 2,343 km; East Coast Corridor (Kharagpur-Vijayawada) 1,100 km; and the Southern Corridor (Chennai - Goa) approx 899 km.
