PM Modi inaugurate Dedicated Freight Corridor section

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 351-km New Bhaupur-New Khurja section in Uttar Pradesh of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor.
  • It was built by the Tata Projects Ltd at a cost of Rs 5,750 crore through a loan from World Bank.
  • PM also dedicated to the nation a state-of-the-art Operation Control Centre in Prayagraj.

DEDICATED FREIGHT CORRIDOR (DFC)

  • The DFC consists of two arms. 
  • The section launched recently is part of the 1,839-km Eastern DFC that starts at Sohnewal (Ludhiana) in Punjab and ends at Dankuni in West Bengal. 
  • The other arm is the around 1,500-km Western DFC from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to JNPT in Mumbai
  • World Bank is funding a majority of the EDFC.
  • The WDFC is being funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

IMPORTANCE

  • Freight trains plying on this section from now on will help decongest the existing Kanpur-Delhi main line of Indian Railways, which currently handles trains at 150% of its line capacity. 
  • This section will also catch the freight traffic originating from key centres such as Kanpur Dehat, Aurayia, Etawah, Firozabad, Hathras, Aligarh and Bulandshahr.
  • Further, there will be benefits like more employment, boost for Real Estate Sector and reduction in logistics costs.
  • The currently built corridor is dedicated only to freight trains, which will run at an average speed of 75 km per hour, increasing the Usual average speed of about 25 km per hour.
  • The PM also mentioned that the freight corridor will help decongest the existing passenger-train main line as till date, the same tracks were being used for both freight and passenger trains. 


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