DFCCIL likely to commence trial runs on Durgawati-Sonenagar section of Eastern DFC by December 2018

Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) is likely to commence trial runs on the Durgawati-Sonenagar section of the Dedicated Freight Corridor Project (Eastern Corridor) by December 2018. Currently, about 90 per cent of the section has been completed with works for construction of level crossings, and minor and major bridges in progress. Besides, work on the Durgawati-Sasaram section (60 km) has already been completed and trial runs are under way. Meanwhile, the other stretches – Ludhiana-Khurja (404 km), Khurja-Kanpur (343 km), Kanpur-Mughalsarai (393 km) and Mughalsarai-Sonenagar (118 km) have achieved physical progress of about 30 per cent, 90 per cent, 60 per cent and 60 per cent respectively. Land acquisition is in progress for the Sonenagar-Dankuni section (538 km), following which further steps towards implementation will commence. The Eastern DFC project involves the development of a 1,856 km long freight corridor, at an investment of Rs 303.58 billion, with the objective of increasing rail share in the freight market, creating additional rail infrastructure to cater to high levels of transport demand, reducing the unit cost of transportation, segregating freight infrastructure for a focused approach on the passenger as well as freight business of the railways, and increasing the use of information technology in freight services. DFCCIL, a special purpose vehicle (SPV), has been set up by the Ministry of Railways for the planning and development, and construction, maintenance and operation of the project.