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Dedicated Freight Corridors

2021 JAN 8

Mains   > Industry and infrastructure   >   Infrastructure & Investment models   >   Railways

IN NEWS

  • Prime Minister has inaugurated a 351-km section between Khurja and Bhaupur in Uttar Pradesh for commercial operations as a part of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor(EDFC).

DEDICATED FREIGHT CORRIDORS (DFC):

  • These are freight-only railway lines to move goods between industrial heartlands in the North and ports on the Eastern and Western coasts.
  • The concept of Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) was mooted in 2006 to generate substantial capacity for freight traffic by developing separate tracks on identified routes.

                          

WHY DO WE NEED DFCS?

  • Increased burden: Covering a total of 10,122 km, these corridors carry the heaviest traffic and are highly congested. The route carries 52% of passenger traffic and 58% of freight traffic, according to the Make-in-India report of 2017. Also, these routes are highly saturated, with line capacity utilisation reaching as high as 150%.
  • Rise in demand: Considering increased transport demands, overtly congested routes and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with road transport, these freight corridors will help reduce the cost and allow faster transportation.
  • Revenue generation: They will open new avenues for investment, as this will lead to the construction of industrial corridors and logistic parks along these routes.

TWO ARMS OF DFC

Eastern DFC

  • It is a 1,839-km line that starts from Sahnewal (Ludhiana) in Punjab and ends at Dankuni in West Bengal.
  • It is being majorly funded by the World Bank.
  • The EDFC route covers Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal

Western DFC

  • It is around 1,500-km line that starts from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to JNPT in Mumbai, touching all major ports along the way.
  • It is being majorly funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency.
  • The WDFC covers Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

Connecting Link for Eastern and Western Arm: 

                    

Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited(DFCCIL)

  • It is a Public Sector Undertaking(PSU) corporation run by the Ministry of Railways to undertake planning, development, and mobilisation of financial resources and construction, maintenance and operation of the Dedicated Freight Corridors(DFC).

Benefits of DFCs

  • Segregate freight infrastructure for focused approach on both passenger and freight business of Railways
  • Decongestion: Around 70% of the freight trains currently running on the Indian Railway network are slated to shift to the freight corridors, leaving the paths open for more passenger trains.
  • Increased Capacity: Tracks on DFC are designed to carry heavier loads than most of Indian Railways.
  • Increased revenue generation: DFC will get track access charge from the parent Indian Railways and will also generate its own freight business.It will increase rail share in freight market by providing customized logistic services
  • Saves transit time: The DFCs will allow much shorter transit times from freight source to destination which means it will reduce the time by up to 50% in some cases.
  • Punctuality: The new section means on the Indian Railway main line, more passenger trains can be pumped in and those trains can, in turn, achieve better punctuality.
  • Reduces the cost and allow faster transportation: Reduce unit cost of transportation by speeding up freight train operations & higher productivity
  • Create additional rail infrastructure to cater high levels of transport demand
  • Introduce of high-end technology & IT packing of Freight Services
  • Helps in generating more employment

CHALLENGES

  • Slow progress in land acquisition by states: For instance, Gujarat government cited slow acquisition of land for approaches. Rehabilitation of People is one of the major problems.
  • Time taken in obtaining of statutory clearances for the procurement of construction material has affected the schedule of implementing agencies.
  • Sluggish work by contractors: Contractors such as Alstom, Hitachi, GMR Infra, TPL-Aldesa (a joint venture of TATA Projects India and ALDESA of Spain), Texmaco Rail and Engineering, among others, have either failed to mobilise labour or are facing cash crunch or have been generally laggard in their work.
  • Law and order situation:  EDFC have been facing law and order issues and protests in UP in Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur districts were areas of concern where 46 road-over-bridges are to be constructed, but only three have been completed, while work is still to be started on 13 such bridges.
  • Slow progress in construction of the approach roads by the state government and long pending arbitration cases.
  • Delay in consent and subsequent sanction of cost sharing of all RoB’s by the state Government’s falling the DFC alignment puts a threat on Timely execution of Project.
  • Coronavirus pandemic: While the original deadline for completion of these DFCs was December 2021, the Railways recently said it has been pushed back by six months to June 2022 due to the covid19
  • Undue demand of lease rent by the Uttar Pradesh forest department also slowed down the progress
  • Problems in Co-ordination between Industrial Corridors
  • PPP projects often over run time and cost than the private players who want more revenue/ Profits.
  • Environmental laws have become very stringent and getting Clearances from National Green Tribunal (NGT) delayed the project.

WAY FORWARD

  • Risk identification, its prioritization and for framing the mitigation plan
  • Action would be taken against any entity causing delay in the project of such importance. 
  • Strict monitoring is for all the working parties involved including entities in the Railways.
  • Balancing the need of local employment and requirement of trained labour
  • Running of heavier trains on both DFCs, as planned, would require strengthening of tracks from the DFC to the consumers’ locations

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Q. Discuss the significance of dedicated freight corridors in the revival of special economic zones in India?

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