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Freight Corridor to reduce transportation time span by 60%

Updated: May 24, 2013 04:39:55pm
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New Delhi, May 24 (KNN) The 3,300-km dedicated freight corridor (DFC) of the railway, at an estimated cost of R 95,000 crore, is one of the country’s most ambitious infrastructure project which will help capture the freight traffic currently locked up and reduce the transport time substantially by 60 per cent.
 
The construction of the first 1,000 km of the corridor, 650 km of the western corridor and 343 km of the eastern corridor, costing around R10,000 crore, will be completed by 2017-18.
 
The funding of the western corridor is being done by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the eastern corridor is being funded by the World Bank.
 
In line with the growing trade and transport requirements in India, commissioning of the Eastern and Western DFC, will directly benefit the trade sector in the country as the time span for the movement of the freight will reduce substantially by 60 per cent.

“With the Eastern and Western DFC in place, there will be freight moving at an average speed of over 70 km/hr. One can reach Ludhiana from Kolkata in two days,” said the Managing director of DFC, R K Gupta in an interview with Mail Today.

The project, once commissioned, would mark an inflexion point in the 150-year history of Indian Railways, which has so far run only mixed traffic across its network, failing to capture the demand for high freight movement.

Gupta also said that DFC would enable fast track transportation of goods and services. Creation of rail infrastructure on such a scale is expected to drive the establishment of Industrial Corridors and logistic park along its alignment, Gupta added.

Railway transportation is capable of high levels of passenger, cargo utilization and energy efficiency, but is often less flexible and more capital-intensive than highway transportation is, when lower traffic levels are considered. Indian Railways makes 70 per cent of its revenues and most of its profits from the freight sector.

Since the 1990s, Indian Railways has switched from small consignments to larger container movement which has helped to speed up its operations. Most of its freight earnings come from such rakes carrying bulk goods such as coal, cement, food grains and iron ore.

Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) is a Special Purpose Vehicle set up under the administrative control of Ministry of Railways to undertake planninig & development, mobilization of financial resources and construction, maintenance and operation of the Dedicated Freight Corridors. DFCCIL was incorporated in October 2006 under Indian Companies Act 1956.

The benefits of high-speed rail are immense in comparison to road and airlines. These rail systems have 30 per cent less land requirement in comparison to expressways for same carrying capacity.
 
The rail ministry is already working on a 66- km stretch of the New Karwandiya-Durgawati section of the Sonnagar - Mughalsarai stretch (122 km) of the eastern corridor. It is to be commissioned by December.

Freight traffic on the Golden Quadrilateral linking the four cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Howrah and its two diagonals — Delhi-Chennai and Mumbai-Howrah — carries more than 55 per cent of revenue earning freight traffic of Indian Railways. The routes of Howrah-Delhi on the eastern corridor and Mumbai-Delhi on the western corridor are highly saturated, creating the need for dedicated routes.

Moreover, High-speed railways would directly compete with economy class tickets of an airline and are highly fuel-efficient as their energy consumption is one third less than private cars and 5 times less than airplanes.

While speaking to Mail Today about the access to private rail operators, DFC MD said, “DFC will provide complete access for the movement of traffic to Indian Railways only. However, in the future depending upon the available capacity, Private Rail Operators may also be permitted.” (KNN)

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