Indian Railways Dedicated Freight Corridors: Leading Firms Bid To Build And Operate Cargo Terminals

In a move that boosts the logistics sector of the country, many private firms have bid for the contract to build and operate private cargo terminals along the upcoming Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC), reports The Indian Express.

After 25 companies including all major players in the logistics sector had participated in the pre-bid meeting for the tender, the Requests for Proposal for Private Freight Terminals on the DFC were opened on Monday (15 February).

The locations of the proposed Cargo terminals include Dharuhera in Haryana; Phulera, and Kishangarh in Rajasthan; Dadri and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh; Palghar in Maharashtra; Sanjali in Gujarat; and Chawapel in Punjab.

Leading private firms like Adani Logistics, CONCOR, DP World, JM Baxi, PSA International, TVS Logistics, Gateway Rail Freight had taken part in the two pre-bid meetings.

Currently, 657 km of DFC section has already been opened and more than 1,000 trains have been run on this section.

In the first phase, the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation (DFCC) is constructing the Western DFC (1504 Route km) and Eastern DFC (1856 route km including PPP section of Sonnagar-Dankuni Section).

The EDFC starting from Sahnewal near Ludhiana (Punjab) will pass through the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, to terminate at Dankuni in West Bengal.

The Western Corridor connecting Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Mumbai will traverse through the states of UP, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra of WDFC and EDFC (excluding the Sonnagar – Dankuni PPP section) — a 2800 Km route — will be commissioned by June 2022.