IR has revised the completion schedule of the entire Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project. It is now likely to be commissioned by April 2020. Earlier expected to be completed by end-2018, the project is facing delays due to various reasons such as procedural wrangles, and land acquisition and environmental clearance issues. As per the revised schedule, both the Western and Eastern DFCs are expected to be commissioned by March 2020. The land acquisition process for the two corridors is almost complete and contracts related to civil, electrical and signalling works have been awarded. On the Western DFC, the Rewari-Marwar section (432 km) is likely to be completed by February 2019 which will be followed by the Marwar-Palanpur section (207 km), slated to be completed by September 2019. The Palanpur-Makarpur (308 km), Makarpura-Vaitarna (313 km) and Rewari-Dadri (127 km) sections are expected to be completed by March 2020.
Meanwhile, on the Eastern DFC, the Khurja-Bhaupur section (343 km) is likely to be commissioned by November 2018 while the completion schedule of the Bhaupur-Mughalsarai (402 km) and Sonnagar-Mughalsarai (126 km) sections has been revised to August 2019 and October 2019 respectively. The remaining Khurja-Dadri (46 km) and Pilkhani-Sahnewal (179 km) sections are expected to be completed by March 2020.