4 more dedicated corridors for freight soon

Railways are firming up proposals to add four more dedicated freight corridors (DFCs) to increase its share in the freight pie and divert loadings from roads to rail.

Currently, Railways has undertaken Rs 81,459-crore projects to develop 3,342-km track, comprising Eastern and Western DFC and according to the plan, four more corridors will be constructed to ensure faster movement of goods.

Railways' loading share has come down to 36 per cent at present as a chunk of it has been shifted to roads, causing a sharp fall in its freight earnings.

The proposals to construct four more DFCs, totalling 6,672 km, are likely to be a part of Rail Budget 2016-17, according to a senior railway ministry official.

The 2,330-km East-West Corridor (Kolkata-Mumbai), 2,343-km North-South Corridor (Delhi-Chennai), the 1,100-km East Coast Corridor (Kharagpur-Vijaywada) and the 899-km Southern Corridor (Chennai-Goa) are being considered to be announced by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on February 25.

Attempts have been made to increase the rail share in loadings through various measures and DFC is one such step, the official said.

Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation (DFCC) was set up by Railways in 2006 to undertake planning & development, mobilisation of financial resources and construction, maintenance & operation of the DFCs.

Railways' network linking the four metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Howrah, along with its two diagonals (Delhi-Chennai and Mumbai-Howrah), commonly known as the Golden Quadrilateral, adding up to a total route length of 10,122 km, carries more than 58 per cent of its revenue-earning freight traffic.

Work is going on full steam on the Eastern and Western DFCs. It will be operationalised phase-wise from 2017 onwards while the 56-km track of the Eastern DFC will open to traffic this year.

Both the corridors will be completely operational in 2019.