Rlys to tie up funds for freight corridor soon

The railways will pump in short-term investment of Rs 3,300 crore in the project and the rest will be through borrowings. The Japan Bank of International Corporation (JBIC) is keen on investing Rs 12,000 crore and is currently examining the western corridor, while the World Bank is assessing the eastern stretch. The railways is hopeful of fully tying up the funds in the next nine months, he said here on Friday.

Vij said the railways had already formed a core team headquartered in Delhi that would associate closely with the consulting firms in executing the 3,000-kilometre double-line project. It had received around 40 applications from within India and abroad, including construction and bridge design companies, evincing interest in the project and would see the commencement of physical activity during the current year.

"We have obtained necessary approvals that will enable us to acquire land much faster. Construction work on the project, bridges to start with, will begin during this year. We expect the freight corridor to be completely ready in seven years from now and the first train would move through this much before that," Vij said.

According to him, the Indian Railways would spend Rs 12,000 crore on gauge conversion and doubling of rail lines to further strengthen the Golden Quadrilateral that links all the four metropolitan cities in the country during this year. "Till last year, we used to do 300 kilometre of doubling. It will be 1,000 kilometre this year," he said.