Moving a step forward towards commissioning the Western Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC), the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation recently carried out the first trial run of an Indian Railways locomotive on the 190 km stretch of the corridor’s Ateli-Phulera section. The locomotive reached the maximum speed of 100 kmph during the trial, covering the distance in 3 hours and 52 minutes.

“A locomotive was run on the western corridor between Ateli and Phulera, falling in Mahendragarh district of Haryana and Jaipur district of Rajasthan. During the trial run, the locomotive attained a speed of 100 kmph”, said the statement issued by Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation (DFCC).

The section on which the trial was conducted has 10 viaducts and major bridges, 127 minor bridges, one rail fly over and 118 route under bridges. The DFC has six stations and two junctions.

The Indian Railways is building two DFCs totalling 3,373 km on India’s eastern and western flanks. The projects, which have missed multiple deadlines, are expected to reach competition by 31 March 2020. When operationalised, the DFCs will significantly ease the burden on the existing railway network by separating freight traffic from passenger traffic and will also boost economic activity.

While the Eastern Corridor of the DFC runs from Ludhiana to Dankuni (1856 km), the Western Corridor runs from Dadri to Jawahar Lal Nehru Port in Mumbai (1504 km).

The project is significant because freight trains on DFC will run at 100 kmph. The current maximum speed on Indian railway tracks is 75 kmph. The average speed of freight trains is expected to increase from 26 kmph to 70 kmph.

The railways has said that it has shortlisted five bidders for a contract to supply 200 electric locomotives for the Western DFC.