88 Per Cent Work On Two Dedicated Freight Corridors Complete, 2513 Km Route Length Commissioned Till October 2023

As much as 88 per cent of the dedicated freight corridors have been commissioned till October 2023, the Parliament was informed on Wednesday (13 December).

Indian Railways has undertaken a mega-infrastructure project of two Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) namely Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors (EDFC & WDFC) to facilitate faster evacuation of freight traffic.

While the 1,506-km-long WDFC runs from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Terminal (JNPT) in Maharashtra, the 1,337-km-long EDFC runs from Ludhiana in Punjab to Sonnagar in West Bengal.

"Construction of EDFC has been fully completed and 1,176 km out of 1,506 km of WDFC has been completed," Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

As of October 2023, a cumulative route length of 2,513 km has been completed out of the total of 2,843 km. Additionally, the Ministry of Railways has expended Rs 1,08,558 crore on the construction of two Dedicated Freight Corridors.

Out of the revised total cost of Rs 1.24 lakh crore for the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors, the EDFC has incurred Rs 51,000 crore, whereas, the revised cost for WDFC is Rs 73,000 crore.

While the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) — a subsidiary of the Indian Railways and a special purpose vehicle set up to implement the project — has completed the EDFC stretch from Ludhiana to Sonnagar in Bihar (1,337 km), the further proposed extension by 538 km to Dankuni in West Bengal via Gomoh and Andal will not be built by DFCCIL. The Ministry of Railways is contemplating an alternative mode.

On the other hand, barring a 109-km stretch between Vaitarna (river in Maharashtra) and JNPT, the remaining alignment of the western corridor is targeted for completion this fiscal year.