The rapid development of dedicated freight corridors (DFCs) and high-speed rail (HSR) corridors highlights the aspiration of Indian Railways (IR) to increase rail transport capacity for both freight and passenger traffic, deploy state-of-the-art technology and improve quality of services. Indian Infrastructure takes a look at the progress on the development of these mega programmes undertaken by IR…
Major strides in DFC development
IR planned to develop DFCs with the aim of increasing the overall freight loading capacity, reducing the logistics cost from 15 per cent to less than 9 per cent, and enhancing the sector’s share in freight transportation from 27 per cent to 45 per cent by 2030. To this end, DFCs will foster the development of new multimodal logistics parks (MMLPs), inland container depots, industrial corridors, etc., across its networks, providing benefits to several industries and consumers, and providing a big push to the economy. The corridor is being developed along the Golden Quadrilateral which links the four metropolitan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, as well as the two diagonals of the quadrilateral (Delhi-Chennai and Mumbai-Kolkata). At present, the Golden Quadrilateral accounts for about 16 per cent of IR’s total route length, carrying over 52 per cent of its passenger traffic and 58 per cent of revenue earning freight traffic.
Undertaken by Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL), the programme’s vision involves planning, construction, and operation and maintenance of two corridors, namely, the eastern DFC (EDFC), which spans 1,337 km from Ludhiana in Punjab to Sonnagar in Bihar, and the western DFC (WDFC), which spans 1,506 km from-Jawaharlal Nehru Port Terminal (JNPT) in Navi Mumbai to Dadri in Uttar Pradesh.
Of the two corridors, the EDFC has already been commissioned, and the WDFC is expected to be completed by December 2025. As of now, the project covers 56 districts across seven states.
The EDFC, excluding the Sonnagar-Andal section, has been fully operational since November 2023. The Sonnagar-Andal section, which was originally planned to be developed in public-private partnership mode, was abandoned and has now been taken over by the Ministry of Railways (MoR) to be developed in an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis for both passenger and freight traffic. Meanwhile, for the WDFC, construction work spanning 1,404 km has been completed, and it has achieved a financial progress of 93 per cent.
The DFCs achieved an average of 391 train operations per day in January 2025, comprising an average of 209 and 182 trains per day on the EDFC and the WDFC respectively. Moreover, it handled a total of 83,343 freight trains during 2024-25 (as of November 2024).
During 2024-25 (as of October 2024), it registered a cumulative freight loading of 62,282 million net tonne km (NTKM) and 106,277 million gross tonne km (GTKM), demonstrating an increase of 94 per cent and 80 per cent, respectively, compared to the corresponding period of last year. Moreover, freight loading is expected to further increase by 20 per cent, following the completion of the 102 km Vaitarna-JNPT section of the WDFC in December 2025.
The operationalisation of the DFCs has resulted in a decline in commodity prices by 0.5 per cent, owing to reductions in freight cost and travel time. Thus, to facilitate faster development, the centre has allocated funds worth Rs 10.44 billion for the project under Union Budget 2025-26.
Substantial headway under HSR
IR has embarked on a journey to increase connectivity and revolutionise long-distance travel by implementing modern technology across the nation through the HSR network. In line with this vision, IR has launched the development of India’s first 508 km long Mumbai-Ahmedabad HSR (MAHSR) corridor with the aim of providing rapid connectivity between Maharashtra and Gujarat. The project spans 348 km in Gujarat, 156 km in Maharashtra and 4 km in the Union Territory of Dadra & Nagar Haveli, and is expected to entail an investment of Rs 1.08 trillion. The foundation stone was laid in September 2017. The corridor will facilitate high-speed bullet trains operating at a speed of 320 km per hour, covering 12 stations in 2.07 hours. Eight of these will be in Gujarat, namely, Vapi, Bilimora, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad and Sabarmati; with the remaining four in Maharashtra: Mumbai, Thane, Virar and Boisar.
The project is being executed by National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), a special purpose vehicle with 50 per cent equity from the MoR and 25 per cent equity each from the governments of Maharashtra and Gujarat. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is providing official development assistance for the project, covering 81 per cent of the project cost as a soft loan with a low interest rate of 0.1 per cent and a moratorium of 15 years, for a period of 50 years. The remaining cost is being funded by the centre.
The project is being implemented in EPC mode in 28 packages, all of which have been awarded. Meanwhile, about 1,390 hectares of land has been acquired for the project. So far, NHSRCL has achieved physical progress of about 50 per cent on the corridor. This includes 243 km of viaduct installation, 352 km of pier construction and 362 km of pier foundation work. The first phase of the trial run is planned to take place on the 50 km long Surat-Bilimora section in Gujarat by 2026. The entire project is expected to be completed by December 2028.
Interestingly, the project comprises India’s first 21 km long underground tunnel between the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) and Shilphata in Maharashtra, which includes a 7 km long undersea tunnel at Thane Creek. Work on the 394 metre long additionally driven intermediate tunnel was completed in May 2024. Moreover, 52 per cent of the excavation work at BKC has been completed and the first base slab for the Mumbai bullet train station has been laid. A shaft depth of 56 metres has been achieved at Vikhroli and 39 metres in Sawli near Ghansoli, along with 602 metres of tunnelling work at Shilphata.
In another key development, recently, a 100 metre long steel bridge (1,432 metric tonnes) was launched over the Western Railway and DFC tracks between Kim and Sayan. This is the sixth steel bridge launched out of a total of 17 in Gujarat. As of now, of the 20 river bridges, 12 have already been completed. Meanwhile, a total of 206,000 noise barriers have been installed across both sides of the 103 km-long viaduct to reduce the noise generated from the operation of trains and other civil structures.
Under Union Budget 2025-26, NHSRCL has received an allocation of Rs 40.04 billion for the MAHSR corridor. Besides, Of this, Rs 1.26 billion will be disbursed for the construction of a training institute under the project.
IR is expected to receive two upgraded versions of Japan’s Shinkansen bullet trains, known as Shinkansen E10 or Shinkansen Alfa-X, which will be capable of reaching a maximum speed of 400 kmph. This is among the best global HSR technologies, with one of the highest safety levels in the world. There have been zero passenger fatalities since the launch of the first Shinkansen train in Japan in 1964. Both Japan and India are planning to roll out these trains simultaneously by 2029-30.
The way forward
Going forward, ambitious targets have been earmarked under each railway development programme. For instance, in the future, DFCs are being planned to be integrated with MMLPs at New Kanpur, New Rewari Triangle Area and New Prithla station. Further, as per the Gati Shakti Cargo Terminal policy, 20 Gati Shakti multimodal cargo terminals are planned for 2024-25 (eight under the EDFC and 12 under the WDFC). Furthermore, three new corridors have been planned, including the East Coast corridor, which involves the construction of a 1,115 km long corridor between Kharagpur in West Bengal and Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh; the East-West corridor, which involves the construction of a 2,358 km long corridor between Kolkata and Mumbai including the Palghar-Bhusawal-Nagpur-Kharagpur-Dankuni section (2,163 km) and the Rajkharsawan-Kalipahari-Andal section (195 km); and the North-South sub-corridor – Vijayawada-Nagpur-Itarsi (975 km), which involves the construction of a 2,327 km-long corridor between Delhi and Chennai in Tamil Nadu. On a positive note, DFCCIL has already submitted detailed project reports (DPRs) for these projects.
In a similar vein, IR aims to establish about 7,000 km of the HSR network, capable of supporting trains running at speeds of 250 kmph by 2047. Moving forward with this vision, DPRs have been submitted for four new HSR corridors, namely, the Delhi-Varanasi corridor, the Delhi-Jaipur-Udaipur-Ahmedabad corridor, the Mumbai-Nashik-Nagpur corridor and the Mumbai-Pune-Hyderabad corridor. Moreover, DPRs are currently under preparation for three corridors. These include the Delhi-Chandigarh-Ludhiana-Jalandhar-Amritsar corridor, the Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysore corridor and the Varanasi-Patna-Howrah corridor. Moreover, the Delhi-Chennai corridor, the Hyderabad-Chennai corridor and the Hyderabad-Bengaluru corridor are in the proposal stage.
Evidently, both DFCs and HSR will serve as catalysts for economic growth by facilitating faster movement of people and goods between major cities. The corridors will also promote sustainability by encouraging a shift from air and road transport to rail, thereby reducing carbon emissions and congestion, making it a more environmentally friendly option.
