Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project

Why in news?

• Around 42 entities including multilateral financial institutions, commercial banks and major infrastructure players have shown interest in the Sonnagar–Gomoh section of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor which will be developed on Public Private Participation (PPP) mode at an estimated cost of Rs 9,000 crore.

What is the Dedicated Freight Corridor project?

• The Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project involves the construction of railway freight corridors traversing the entire country.
• The Government of India established a special purpose vehicle, the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL), to implement the project.
• Dedicated Freight Corridor Corp. of India Ltd (DFCCIL), is as of now building the initial two freight corridors—Eastern Freight Corridor from Ludhiana to Dankuni/Kolkata (1,856km) and Western Freight Corridor from Dadri to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (1,504km)— at a complete expense of Rs. 81,000 crores.
• It would be the country’s largest infrastructure project involving almost 9000 kilometers of railway track.
• The railways is reportedly planning to fully operationalize them by 2022.

Funding:

• World Bank is funding 1200 Kms of Eastern DFC while rest is funded by railways and PPP models.
• JICA is funding the Western DFC’s 1506 kilometre corridor.

Proposed Corridors:

• East-West Corridor (2,328km) (Kolkata to Mumbai)
•  North-South Corridor (2,327km) (Delhi to Chennai)
• East Coast Corridor (1,114km) (Kharagpur to Vijaywada)

Objectives:

• De-congest already saturated road network & promote shifting of freight transport to more efficient rail transport.
• Reduction of Green House Gas (GHG) emissions in transport sector.
• Increase the speed and transportation capacity of freight trains.
• Ease out congestion of train movement on existing Indian Railway network.

Prelims Question

Eastern dedicated freight corridor” connects:
(a)Visakhapatnam with Kolkata
(b)Ludhiana with Kolkata
(c)Guwahati with Chennai
(d)Chennai with Paradwip

Answer to prelims question