Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs & Food & Public Distribution, reviewed the progress of Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation India Limited (DFCCIL), which was attended by all the top officials of Railways Board, DFCCIL including MD/DFCCIL.

During the meeting, the senior officials presented the current status of the project.

It is to be noted that Capex utilisation in DFC increased by 21 % as compared to last year. Capital expenditure in January 2021. In first 10 months of financial year 2020-2021, capital expenditure of Rs 8201 Cr has been registered as compared to Rs 6783 crore for last year same corresponding period despite the project getting adversely affected  due to COVID 19 induced lockdown.

Shri Goyal directed the DFFCIL management team and the contractors to take all possible steps to speed up the pace of works on all the sections of the Western DFC (1504 Route km) and Eastern DFC (1856 route km). In the review meeting, progress of each individual section was discussed in detail and instructions were given to ensure smooth progress by resolving all hindrances.

 During the meeting, it was decided that strict monitoring of work of all contractors to be done. Resolution of all issues, including coordination with the States to be done on a Mission mode. 

Indian Railways is making dedicated freight corridors to provide exclusive movement on fast speeds for goods trains.

It is to be noted that 657 km of section has already been opened in 2020-21 and more than 1000 trains have been run.

 In the first phase, DFCCIL is constructing the Western DFC (1504 Route km) and Eastern DFC (1856 route km including PPP section of Sonnagar-Dankuni Section.

The EDFC starting from Sahnewal near Ludhiana (Punjab) will pass through the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand to terminate at Dankuni in West Bengal. The Western Corridor connecting Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Mumbai will traverse through the states of UP, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra of WDFC & EDFC (excluding the Sonnagar – Dankuni PPP section) i.e. 2800 route Km will be commissioned by June 2022.

Dedicated Freight corridor is being seen as a game changer in Economic Development of India.

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DJN