Govt Completes Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor

14 Oct 2023

Context:

The ambitious 1,337-kilometer Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) Completed Ahead of Schedule. Operations on the entire corridor are set to commence on November 1.

Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC): It is a high speed and high capacity railway corridor that is exclusively meant for the transportation of freight, or in other words, goods and commodities.

Dedicated freight corridor

Dedicated Freight Corridor comprises two arms: Eastern DFC and Western DFC, designed to revolutionize freight transportation and ease congestion on the Indian Railway network.
Eastern DFC: It spans 1,875 kilometers, beginning at Sohnewal (Ludhiana), Punjab, and concluding at Dankuni
West Bengal.
- Fund: Rs 5,750 crore through a
  loan from World Bank
Western DFC: The other arm is 1,506-km WDFC from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai, touching all major ports along the way.
- Funded by: The Japan International Cooperation Agency)

Dedicated freight corridor

Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd. (DFCCIL): It is a Special Purpose Vehicle for construction, maintenance and operation of the dedicated freight corridor under the Ministry of Railway..

Benefits

Freight Corridor Purpose: Dedicated freight corridors are specialized tracks designed for goods trains to alleviate congestion on the railway network and expedite the movement of goods.
- These corridors offer an average speed of 50-60 kmph, significantly faster than regular railway tracks.
Reduction in Transit Time: It reduces transit times for freight trains from 35-50 hours to 18-20 hours.

News Source: The Economic Times