Freight Corridor's Ateli-Phulera section to become functional Aug 15

The Ateli (Haryana)- Phulera (Rajasthan) section of Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) is all set to begin functioning from August 15 this year, the Indian Railways said on Saturday.

Railway Board Chairman Ashwani Lohani conducted an inspection of the Ateli-Phulera section of Western DFC and gave green signal for the operation of the freight trains, said a Railways statement.

According to the statement, the distance between two stations is 190 km which contains 10 viaducts and major bridges, 127 minor bridges, a rail flyover and 118 road under bridges, while there are six DFC stations, apart from the Ateli and Phulera junctions.

The railways said that the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL) will run freight train at the maximum speed of 100 km per hour as against the current maximum speed of 75 kms per hour on Indian Railway tracks.

The average speed of freight trains will also be increased from existing speed of 26 kms per hour on Indian Railways lines to 70 kms per hour on DFC.

DFCCIL, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) is engaged in planning, construction, operation and maintenance of the DFC.

In the first phase, the two corridors, namely Eastern Corridor from Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni in West Bengal (1,856 km) and the Western Corridor from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawahar Lal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Maharashtra (1,504 km) are being constructed for exclusively movement of goods trains.

The Western Corridors is being funded by Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA), while the Eastern Corridor from Mughalsarai to Ludhiana is being funded by the World Bank.

--IANS

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