Western Dedicated Freight Corridor
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Through Delhi, Government of India and Gujarat
The Western DFC is exclusively for transporting freight at higher speeds with increased load carrying capacity. The main freight commodities include fertilizers, food grains, salt, coal, iron, steel and cement. It uses Flash Butt Welded head-hardened (HH) 250 m long rails with axle load capacity of 25 t on tracks and 32.5 ton bridges, compared to the existing 22.9 t to 25 t axle load used on Indian Railway tracks. The line will support freight trains reaching 1,500 m (4,900 ft) length, pulled by high-power WAG12 electric locomotives and running at speeds greater than 100 km/h (62 mph). The tracks will be entirely grade-separated and have a generous loading gauge of 3,660 mm (12 ft 1⁄8 in) width and 7,100 mm (23 ft 3+1⁄2 in) maximum height allowing for the double-stacked shipping container on flatcars to be transported, in contrast to wellcars used in other countries for double-stack rail transport. This allows for single trains to have a 400-container capacity. Trains will have radio communications and GSM-based tracking – a first in the Indian railway sector.
The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (Eastern DFC) has a 46 km long branch line, that connects Khurja in Bulandshahr district on Eastern DFC with Dadri in Gautam Buddha Nagar district on the Western DFC.
Meerut is proposed as the largest Logistic Hub on the EDFC due to its nodal connectivity via several expressways. The Western DFC, along with the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway, will be a vital backbone of the Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC). The Western DFC will cross the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway at 2 places in Haryana: Sancholi village (Gurgaon district) and Paroli village (Palwal district).
About DFC
The Government of India established the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) on 30 October 2006 to undertake construction of this project.
India's first 2 DFCs, the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra and the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (Eastern DFC) from Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni in West Bengal, via Meerut (Logistic Hub) and Khurja are aimed at decongesting the railway network by moving 70% of India's goods train to these two corridors.
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Route
The Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (Western DFC) will begin at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh (near Delhi) on a new stretch of railway line right of way between Dadri-Rewari and then will run parallel to existing railway lines via Narnaul, Sri Madhopur and Reengus (Sikar). The other important stations will be Phulera and Marwar Junction in Rajasthan, Palanpur, Ambli Road Railway Station near (Sabarmati), Makarpura (Vadodara), Gothangam/ Kosad in Gujarat and Vasai Road in Maharashtra before it terminates at JNPT (Nhava Sheva Port) in Maharashtra's Raigad district. The Dadri-Rewari railway line passes through a 1 km tunnel with 14.5 m width and internal height 10.5 m to 12.5 m to carry double-stacked containers.
Construction
The DFCCIL has divided the construction work of the Western DFC into 5 section for contracting purposes.
Status updates
- Apr 2005: The project is announced by the then Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh.
- Oct 2006: The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) is formed by the Ministry of Railways on 30 October.
- Feb 2008: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approves the Western DFC and the Eastern DFC.
- Sep 2009: The Union Cabinet approved a loan made by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
- Jun 2013: The civil construction contract for the Rewari-Palanpur section is awarded by DFCCIL.
- Aug 2018: The inaugural run of a freight train is successfully conducted along the 190 km segment between the New Ateli and the New Phulera stations.
- Dec 2019: DFCCIL successfully tested the 306 km stretch between Kishangarh Balawas (Rewari district) and Madar (Ajmer district).
- Jul 2020: Testing for the 352.7 km Madar to Palanpur stretch was completed.
- Jan 2021: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 306 km route from New Rewari to New Madar and flagged off the world's first flat wagon double-stacked container train from New Ateli to New Kishangarh on 7 January.
- Mar 2021: The 335 km long New Madar to New Palanpur section is inaugurated on 31 March.
- July 2021: About 60% of the Western DFC has been completed.
- Aug 2021
- 14 Aug: DFCCIL commences Roll-on-Roll-off (Ro-Ro) service on the Western DFC. The rake consisting of flat wagons proceeded from New Rewari and arrived at New Palanpur, covering a distance of 630 km.
- 26 Aug: DFCCIL successfully completes a 2.75 km long and 25 m high viaduct near Sohna on the Dadri-Prithla-Rewari section.
- May 2022: A trial run was started on the section from New Palanpur to New Mehsana on 13 May and was finished on 25 May.
- Jun 2022: After the trial run, the New Palanpur-New Mehsana is inaugurated and made operational by DFCCIL, which increases the corridor's length to 720 km, from Dadri to Mehsana.
- Apr 2024: 93% of the route operational, with the 138 km Sanand-Makarpura and 244 km Makarpura-Gholvad sections opened, and the 110 km Gholvad-JNPT section the last one under construction.