Freight corridor project saddled with problems

The much-touted dedicated freight corridor (DFC) project of the railways has hit a snag due to problems in land acquisition, cost escalation and concern over technology.

The railway ministry, which will make a presentation of the Rs 28,000 crore project in the PMO on Tuesday, needs to acquire more than 8,800 hectares of land for constructing the proposed 2,783-km-long corridor.

Due to route alignment, the railways have to acquire large swathes of private land that are already developed, making the construction of the corridor difficult. The ministry is also required to pay market price for any land acquisition, further compounding its problem.

The project aims to link Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata with high speed rail, exclusively for the movement of freight.

The Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JBIC), which has agreed to provide about Rs 18,000 crore for the project, has raised concern over the technology to be used for running the locomotives.

While the railways want to run double-stacked containers in the Delhi-Mumbai corridor on diesel locomotives, the JBIC has suggested electric ones, saying it is more environment-friendly.

"The JBIC has raised questions about the technology to be used and the cost of the project. They are also keen that the land acquisition problem should be resolved at the earliest," said a senior railway official.

The JBIC has put the total cost of the project at a whopping Rs 50,000 crore in its interim report, almost double than the estimation of the railways'.