New freight corridors

IN NEWS:

• Dedicated Freight corridor corporation of India has decided to terminate a Rs 471 crore contract given to a Chinese firm.

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 complete over 60-70 per cent of the work in the two corridors by this financial year and fully operationalize them by 2021.

PROPOSED NEW 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:

Q. "Eastern dedicated freight corridor” connects:

1. Ludhiana with Kolkata
2. Visakhapatnam with Kolkata
3. Guwahati with Chennai
4. Chennai with Paradwip

Answer to Prelims question