Western And Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor
In India, a 1,506 km long wide gauge freight corridor known as the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor or Western DFC is still under construction. It will link Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra, with Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, close to Delhi.
What Is Western Dedicated Freight Corridor?
The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL), a public-sector entity (PSU) under the Ministry of Railways, is building the corridor, which will be electrified and operate on two lines. The Western DFC involves building a new single-line branch that will run parallel to the current New Delhi-Faridabad-Palwal railway line from Prithla in the Palwal district to Tughlakabad in Delhi.
The Western DFC is designed specifically to move freight at faster rates and with greater load carrying capacity. Salt, coal, iron, steel, food grains, fertilisers, and pesticides are among the principal freight commodities. As opposed to the current axle load of 22.9 to 25 tonnes used on Indian Railway tracks, it uses 250-meter-long Flash Butt Welded head-hardened (HH) rails with a 25-ton axle load capacity on tracks and a 32.5-ton axle load capability on bridges. The track can accommodate freight trains up to 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in length pushed by powerful WAG12 electric locomotives travelling at over 100 km/h (62 mph).
In contrast to wellcars used in other countries for double-stack rail transport, the tracks will be entirely grade-separated and have a generous loading gauge of 3,660 mm (12 ft 18 in) width and 7,100 mm (23 ft 3+12 in) maximum height, allowing for the transportation of double-stacked shipping containers on flatcars. This makes it possible for single trains to carry 400 containers. A first for the Indian railway industry, trains will include radio communications and GSM-based tracking systems.
A 46 km branch line connecting Khurja in the Bulandshahr district on the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (Eastern DFC) with Dadri in the Gautam Buddha Nagar district on the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor. The Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor's crucial backbone would be made up of the Western DFC and the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway (DMIC). Sancholi village (Gurgaon district) and Paroli village are the two locations in Haryana where the Western DFC would cross the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway (Palwal district).
The DFC
On October 30, 2006, the Indian government established the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) to carry out this project's construction.
By directing 70% of India's freight trains to these two corridors, India's first two DFCs—the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra and the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (Eastern DFC) from Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni in West Bengal—are intended to relieve railroad congestion.
By March 2023, both DFCs are anticipated to be finished.
What is the Route of Western Dedicated Freight Corridor?
The Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (Western DFC) will start at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh (close to Delhi) on a new section of railway right of way between Dadri and Rewari, and will continue via Narnaul, Sri Madhopur, and Reengus (Sikar)while running parallel to current railway lines. Before it ends at JNPT (Nhava Sheva Port) in Maharashtra's Raigad district, the other significant stations include Phulera and Marwar Junction in Rajasthan, Palanpur, Amli Road (Sabarmati), Makarpura (Vadodara), Gothangam/ Kosad in Gujarat, and Vasai Road in Maharashtra.
What Is Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor?
Dedicated Eastern Freight Corridor India's broad gauge Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor, often known as Eastern DFC, is currently being built. The railway will connect Khurja in Uttar Pradesh with Dankuni (near Kolkata) in West Bengal via Ludhiana in Punjab.
The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL), a public-sector entity (PSU) under the Ministry of Railways, is building this railway route as one of many freight corridors. The majority of the Eastern DFC will have twin tracks and be electrified, however because to space constraints, the 365 km from Ludhiana to Khurja will only have a single line of electrification. A total of 1,839 kilometers will be covered by this freight corridor. This corridor has a 46 km branch line that connects Dadri (Gautam Buddha Nagar district) on the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor with Khurja (Bulandshahr district) on the Eastern DFC (Western DFC).
923 km, or 50% of the Eastern DFC, have been finished as of June 2022, and 99% of the necessary land has been purchased. By March 2023, the Eastern DFC is anticipated to be finished.
The first two DFCs, Western DFC, from Dadri, Uttar Pradesh to JNPT (Navi Mumbai), and Eastern DFC, from Punjab to West Bengal, are scheduled to be finished in March 2023 and will relieve the railroad network by diverting 70% of India's freight trains to these two routes. But because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which led to lockdowns, curfews, and limitations, work was delayed because there wasn't enough labor.
What is the Route of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor?
The first 447 km of the Ludhiana - Dhari - Khurja segment would be covered by the freight corridor on a single electrified track. The remainder of the line will then be double-tracked and electrified all the way to Dankuni in West Bengal. Sahnewal, Doraha, Ludhiana, Sirhind, Rajpura, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Hathras, Barhan, Tundla, Firozabad, Etawah, Kanpur, Prayagraj, and Chandauli are some of the significant districts that this will pass through.
This line will feature numerous intersections in order to lessen load on the main line. Dhandharikalan, Sirhind, Rajpura, Khalanaur, Khurja, Daudkhan, Tundla, Bhaupur, Prempur, Karchhana, Jeonathpur, Mughalsarai Junction Railway Station, Ganjkhwaja, Sasaram, Dehri on Sone, Son Nagar, Gomoh, Andal, Bardhaman, and Dankuni are the proposed junctions on this line (The eastern terminal point).
Operational Command Post (Occ)
The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor's command and control center (OCC), built by Alstom in Prayagraj, will monitor all of the trains and the power supply system. The facility is situated on 4.2 acres and will be staffed by 150 workers.