Japan questions western freight corridor`s feasibility

The railways had proposed to lay electric wires at a height of 7.4 metre to run double-stack container trains. The Japanese side said the height was much more than the norm of 6.6 metre in other parts of the world.

Following this, the railways have asked Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) to conduct a trial run on a 60-km stretch in Orissa. The trial is expected to be finished next month. The final report is expected be submitted by the end of next month.

The railways say they have planned a height of 7.4 metre as most rolling stock in India are flat whereas most other countries in the world use well wagons, which have a lower base.

"There would be trial run to see if electrification of the corridor is possible or not. If it succeeds, we will go ahead or look at other options like reducing the height of the wires and using well wagons," said VK Kaul, MD, Dedicated Freight Corrridor Corporation of India Ltd.

A DFCCIL source said Japan would finance the project only if the study was successful.