1. INTERVIEW14 CARGOTALK JULY 2015
DFC: Decongesting Indian Railways
QWhat kind of impact
will the Dedicated
Freight Corridor (DFC)
have on Indian
Railways?
The Golden Quadrilateral and
its diagonals constitute 16 per cent
of the total route length of the Indian
Railways network but carry 58 per
cent of the total freight traffic. The
lines are heavily saturated.
The Eastern and Western
Dedicated Freight Corridors consti-
tute 22 per cent of the total Indian
Railways traffic and 38 per cent of
traffic on Golden Quadrilateral.Upon
its completion, a major proportion of
the freight traffic of Indian Railways
will be diverted to DFC which is why
it is being touted as a game changer
for the logistics scenario.
The average speed is expected
to be 70 kmph, more than double
from the existing 25 kmph, which will
bring a reduction in transit time.As of
today, freight transportation between
Delhi and Mumbai takes two to three
days by railways; whereas by road, it
takes more than three days.The DFC
will deliver the freight in just 20 hours.
The unit cost of transport would
reduce by 40 per cent. DFC routes
are constructed with double lines and
have automatic signalling. So more
than 150 trains can be run in each
direction.The studies conducted by
World Bank and Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA) forecast
a traffic level of 264 MT for Eastern
DFC and 284 MT for Western DFC
over a period of 20 years.There are
industrial corridors coming up along
the Eastern DFC and Western DFC.
QWhat is the current
status of the project?
DFC is one of the largest infra-
structure projects undertaken by
Indian Railways, with a total cost of
$16 bn and a funding arrangement
fromWorld Bank for Eastern Corridor
and from JICA for Western Corridor.
The project is spread over a length of
3,350 km with more than three lakh
Project Affected Persons. DFCC has
been able to acquire 84 per cent of the
land and is pursuing for acquisition of
the remaining 16 per cent. The civil
work on the Eastern DFC has com-
menced.The total length is 464 km -
from Khurja to Bhaupur (342 km) and
Mughalsarai to Son Nagar (122 km).
Further contracts for section between
Bhaupur to Mughal Sarai, measuring
a length of 402 km, were awarded in
March 2015. The Eastern Corridor
civil works will have physically pro-
gressing by almost 66 per cent.
Also, it has further been planned
to award 80 per cent of the contracts
by March 2016 and the rest 20 per
cent by June 2016. Thereafter, the
work will progress in the entire Eastern
DFC between Ludhiana to Son Nagar.
The civil work on the Western
DFC is already in progress between
Rewari to Iqbalgarh, having a length
of 675 km (40 per cent of the section).
Further, contracts for civil work
betweenVadodara andVaitarna (320
km) were awarded in May 2015.The
Western Corridor civil works will have
physically progressing by 64 per cent.
Electrical, signal and telecom con-
tracts from Rewari to Vadodara (950
km) have also been awarded.
For the balance portion of
Western Corridor, the tenders are
being processed and the plan is to fix
all the contracts during 2015-16.The
progress of work has improved ten-
fold in Rewari-Iqbalgarh
and three-fold in the
Khurja-Kanpur section.
QBy when do
you expect
the operations
to begin?
The timeline for
completion of the
Eastern Corridor has
been fixed for
December 2019. We
have planned to com-
mission the project in a
phased manner in
2018-19. Similarly, for
the Western Corridor, the commis-
sioning will be in phases with Rewari-
Iqbalgarh stretch by December 2018
and the balance portion by
December 2019.
QWould you elaborate
on the multimodal
logistics parks and
private freight terminals
to be developed on the
DFCCI route?
The business policy of DFCCIL
is to provide connectivity to private
freight terminals, private sidings and
ports wherever feasible. Steps have
been taken to develop Multi-Modal
Logistics Parks (MMLPs) also and
one MoU has also been signed with
Inland Waterways Authority of India
to develop a multimodal terminal
near Varanasi involving waterways,
roadways and railways. Business
models are being evolved for devel-
opment of MMLPs at various loca-
tions and feasibility studies have
been completed for the areas near
Sanand (near Ahmedabad), Kanpur.
QWhat kind of cargo is
expected to be
diverted to the DFC?
The two corridors will have
advantage of speed and a direct
effect on the operational output of
DFCCIL, resulting into heightened
customer confidence and transit
reliability. The container traffic on
Western DFC will be the main
speed sensitive cargo, along with
the ‘perishables’.In Eastern Corridor,
the emphasis will be to ensure timely
supply of coal to various Thermal
Power Plants.
ABEER RAY
Touted as the next big thing for rail logistics, the Dedicated Freight Corridor project (DFC) is fraught with challenges.
With a budget of a whopping `80,000 crore to decongest the Indian Railways route, the DFC would take over almost
70 per cent of the freight from the existing Indian Railways tracks. Adesh Sharma, Managing Director, Dedicated
Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCI), explains the current status of the project and the type of cargo expected
to be diverted. Excerpts:
Adesh Sharma
Managing Director, Dedicated Freight Corridor
Corporation of India (DFCCI)
The Golden Quadrilateral
and its diagonals carry 58
per cent of total freight traffic
of the Indian Railways.
Trivia :
N The DFC project is being created
for the exclusive movement of
freight to spur economic growth.
N DFC’s western corridor is being
funded by JICA, while the eastern
corridor is being funded by the
World Bank.