Source – https://www.financialexpress.com/business/railways-indian-railways-achieves-a-milestone-completes-construction-of-eastern-dedicated-freight-corridor-know-its-details-benefits-3337960/
Publisher – Financial Express
The Ministry of Railways has fully completed the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC). The DFCs are high-speed and high-capacity railway corridors that are exclusively meant for the transportation of freight or goods and commodities. They will reduce the logistic cost, increase the speed, and enhance the safety of freight movement.
The Ministry has taken a major step towards improving the logistics and connectivity of the country by constructing two Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) – Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC).
What is EDFC and WDFC?
Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) stretches from Ludhiana in Punjab to Sonnagar in West Bengal, covering a length of 1337 km. It will also include a public-private partnership (PPP) section of the Sonnagar-Dankuni route. The EDFC will have 21 stations along its route. The construction work on this corridor started in 2014 and was completed in 2023.
Meanwhile, The Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) which stretches from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Mumbai, covering a length of 1506 km has been completed up to 78 per cent. It will connect Dadri, Ghaziabad, Agra East, Mathura East, Meerut East and Ghaziabad. It will also include a PPP section of the Sonnagar-Dankuni route. The WDFC will have 25 stations along its route.
Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals
In addition to the DFCs, the Ministry of Railways has also launched a new policy for developing Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals (GCTs), which are multimodal logistics facilities that can handle rail cargo along with other modes such as road or water transport. The GCTs are being developed by private players with minimal intervention from the government.
So far, 15 GCTs have been commissioned and around 96 more locations have been provisionally identified for the development of GCTs. It has been targeted to commission 100 GCTs within the next three financial years i.e. 2022-23.
The GCTs will provide seamless integration of rail transport with other modes of transport and enable customers to choose their preferred mode based on cost-effectiveness and convenience. They will also reduce congestion at railway stations and improve passenger amenities.
Benefits of DFCs and GCTs
The DFCs and GCTs are part of its vision to make India a global leader in the logistics sector. They will boost the economic growth and development of India by facilitating faster movement of goods from major ports and industrial hubs to hinterland areas. They will also generate employment opportunities and attract investments in various sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, mining, etc.
