According to the latest status announced by India’s Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation, in January 2017, for Eastern DFC (1318 km), the civil contracts awarded represented 83% of the total length (or 1096 km); for Western DFC (1504 km), civil contracts were awarded. Of the total length of DFCs, 2822 km, the civil contracts were awarded for 2600 km (or 92% of the total length). Regarding the system contracts, the company awarded electrical contracts for 82% of the total lines length (2315 km), and the signal contracts awarded percentage (82%, for 2315 km of the total length).
In February, all three World Bank projects under India’s Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC), amounting to USD 2.72 billion are at different stages of implementation. Most of the major procurement contracts under EDFC 1 and 2 have already been awarded.
The World Bank is financing about 1200 km of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (Ludhiana – Kolkata) through a series of three projects: Khurja – Kanpur (EDFC I, 390 km); Kanpur – Mughal Sarai (EDFC II, 402 km); and Ludhiana – Khurja (EDFC III, 401 km). At completion, the program is expected to more than double the Indian Railways’ freight carrying capacity along the corridor.
The new electrified freight-only railway lines will allow trains to haul higher loads faster, cheaper, and more reliably than before, enabling the railways to make a quantum leap in their operational performance.
In addition to construction of the freight corridor, the project is also supporting the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL) to strengthen its institutions. This includes research and development, long term commercial and marketing plan, approach to non-discriminatory access, safety on the tracks, locomotives and wagon specifications, pilot projects on energy optimization and freight logistics, and skill enhancement among others.
The DFC lines are being built for maximum speeds of up to 100 km/h compared to current average commercial freight speed of about 25 km/h and will have a capacity of 6,000 to 12,000 gross ton of freight trains at 25-ton axle load at opening, but designed to enable migration to 32.5 ton axle load later on. Apart from a reliable service, which is critical for freight customers, the DFCs will allow much shorter transit times from freight source to destination. And in some cases reduce the delivery time to more than 50 per cent.
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