After missing the completion date several times, the Indian Railways have set again a new deadline for commissioning the 3,342-km Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) in April 2020.
The project, comprising the Eastern and Western corridors, aims to speed up the movement of freight while easing the congested routes for passenger traffic. The 1,840 km Eastern DFC from Ludhiana to Dankuni near Kolkata traverses Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal. The 1,502 km Western DFC from Dadri (Uttar Pradesh) to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (Navi Mumbai) passes through Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
For the Western DFC, the new deadline for commissioning the Rewari-Marwar section (432 km) is February 2019, the Marwar-Palanpur section (207 km) – September 2019 and the Palanpur-Makarpur section (308 km), the Makarpura-Vaitran section (313 km) and the Rewari-Dadri section (127 km) – March 2020.
For the Eastern DFC, the Khujra-Bhaupur section (343 km) is scheduled to be completed by November 2018, the Bhaupur-Mughalsarai section (402 km) by August 2019, the Sonnagar-Mughalsarai section (126 km) by October 2019, the Khurja-Dadri section (46 km) by December 2019 and the Pilkhani-Sahnewal section (179 km) by March 2020.
The project was approved in 2006, and was slated for completion in 2016-2017, which was later postponed for 2017-2018. The delays are due to various reasons, including procedural wrangles, land acquisition, environment clearances and other related issues.
Currently the land acquisition is almost complete and significant contracts related to civil and electrical works and signalling have been awarded.
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