Faster Speed, Lower Cost: How Dedicated Freight Corridor Will Benefit Indian Railways
Dedicated Freight Corridor: The dedicated freight corridor (DFC), one of the country's largest railway infrastructure projects, is set to transform the Indian Railways network and revolutionize freight transportation system. V.K.Yadav, Chairman and CEO of Railway Board announced on Saturday, December 26 through a virtual conference, that 306 km long Rewari-Madar section of Western DFC and 351 km long Khurja-Bhaupur section of Eastern DFC is completed. The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL), responsible for implementing the DFC project, earlier announced that Indian Railways will be operating its freight trains on 40 per cent of the corridor by next year. (Also Read: Dedicated Freight Corridor: 40% DFC track to be completed by 2021 )
According to a statement released by the Railway Ministry, the speed of freight trains has nearly doubled from 24 kmph one year ago to 46 mph, resulting in half the time taken to ferry products. In November 2020, the Indian Railways freight network registered a record loading of 109.68 million tonnes, which is nine per cent higher compared to last year's loading for the same period.
The operational DFC network will lower the cost of overall freight operations and will eventually be tracked digitally. In the first phase of the dedicated freight corridor project, the 1504 km long western DFC and the 1856 km long eastern DFC will be constructed. The eastern DFC will also include a public-private partnership (PPP) section of the Sonnagar-Dankuni route. Here's how the dedicated freight corridor will benefit the Indian Railways network:
Indian Railways Dedicated Freight Corridor - Features, Benefits:
- The freight corridors are expected to decongest the existing Indian Railway network
- It will increase the average speed of goods trains from the existing 25 kmph to 70 kmph
- It will allow running heavy haul trains and carry an overall load of 13,000 tonne
- The corridor will facilitate the running of longer and double-stack container trains
- DFC will connect the existing ports and industrial areas for faster movement of goods
- The DFC project is an energy-efficient and environment-friendly rail transport system as per global standards
- It will increase the rail share from the existing 30 per cent to 45 per cent and will reduce the logistic cost of transportation.
