DFCC eyes 40% growth in cargo with same number of trains: MD Praveen Kumar

The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCC) is eyeing 40 per cent growth in cargo with the same number of trains by running higher load capacity trains in the future, said the company’s managing director (MD) Praveen Kumar.

 

“We’re already running 22.9 tonne axle load wagons. We’re designed for 32.5 tonne axle load and our track is designed for 25 tonne axle load. We are prepared to take it up further. The vision of Indian Railways is to run 32.5 tonne rakes and this will happen in some time. We will be able to achieve 40 per cent additional cargo in the same train once it happens. This will require a lot of new rolling stock and the procurement will be done by the railways,” Kumar told Business Standard on the sidelines of the Global Heavy Haul Seminar 2025 in New Delhi.

 

Axle load refers to the weight that a wagon can carry on a track — this depends on multiple factors like the ability of the wagon and that of the tracks to withstand such weight. One rake typically consists of 59 wagons. 

 

Indian Railways — through the Ministry of Railways — is a member of the International Heavy Haul Association, which consists of heavy cargo moving entities across the world. 

 

The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) between Punjab and Bihar was completed in October 2023 and the Western DFC between Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai will be completed by the end of this year. 

 

Both the projects, financed partly by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and World Bank, are estimated to cost ₹1.24 trillion by the time of completion. 

 

The exact figures in tonnage are not available specifically for the DFCC — the railway ministry’s special purpose vehicle (SPV) to run the eastern and western freight corridors.

 

But the DFCC carries nearly 13 per cent of railway freight in terms of gross tonnes kilometres (GTKMs). 

 

According to operational data, the national transporter ran over 130,000 freight trains on the eastern and western DFCs in 2024-25, averaging 10,843 trains each month. The figure –356 trains a day – has more than doubled since 2023-24, when the Eastern corridor was completed.

 

The data also shows that the dedicated corridors have been able to deliver nearly double the speeds of freight movement compared to conventional railway tracks.

 

In 2024-25, the average speed of trains on the Western Corridor was 51.5 km per hour and 41.2 km per hour on the Eastern Corridor.  The largest commodities on the eastern and western DFCs are coal and containers, respectively.