Implementation of DFCS, SFTO and AFTO Schemes in Indian Railways

Presently two Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC), one on the Western route (Jawaharlal Nehru Port to Dadri) and another on the Eastern route (Ludhiana to Dankuni), have been taken up for implementation. In Rail Budget 2016-17, the following three freight corridors: - (i) East West Corridor (Kolkata-Mumbai), (ii) North-South Corridor(Delhi-Chennai) and (iii) East Coast Corridor ( Khargpur-Vijaywada) have been proposed.

To increase rail share of the non-traditional commodities like molasses, fly ash, edible oil, caustic soda, chemical, petrochemicals, alumina & bulk cement, Special Freight Train Operator (SFTO) Scheme was launched in the year 2010 and amended in the years 2013 and 2014.

M/s. Fourcee Infrastructure Equipment and M/s. Jindal Steel and Power have been registered under SFTO Scheme. Three rakes have been inducted by M/s. Jindal Steel Power Limited.

Container Train Operators cannot operate under SFTO Scheme. However, 17 container train operators including CONCOR have been licensed for container operation and they can operate on the DFCs as well.

Container Rail traffic has grown at an average rate of 12.7% per annum from 2007-2008 to 2014-2015.

Two firms viz. M/s Maruti Suzuki India and M/s. APL Logistics Vascor Automotive have registered under the Automobile Freight Train Operator (AFTO) Scheme and have been given approval for procurement of six rakes each of Automobile carrier wagons (BCACBM) involving an investment of ' 80 crores approximately. So far, three rakes procured by M/s Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. and five rakes by M/s. APL Logistics Vascor Automotive Pvt. Ltd. have been put up to use on Indian Railways system.

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