Dedicated Freight Corridor gets a new deadline, it's a race against time

DFC may finally see the light of day with the Narendra Modi government planning to complete it by December 2021, ahead of India's 75th Independence day in 2022

In January 2004, Australia commissioned what is regarded as one of the most difficult railway lines to be ever built in the world — across the inhospitable terrain from Alice Spring in the north to the deepwater port of Darwin in the south. Around the same time, the Railway Board in India, headed by Chairman R K Singh, was working on pulling off a similar feat with a dedicated track for freight to speed up traffic flow. 

The project was shelved after initial deliberations citing cost effectiveness, but was given a fresh lease of life in 2006. But since it received