The railways ministry has sought the approval of the Union cabinet to build three new dedicated freight corridor (DFC) networks at a total investment of about ₹3 trillion, said a senior government official aware of the matter, in what may help Indian Railways meet growing demand for faster and efficient movement of freight. Indian Railways’ DFC project involves constructing five freight corridors across the country. The railways, through its arm Dedicated Freight Corridor Corp. of India Ltd (DFCCIL), is already building the first two freight corridors—Eastern Freight Corridor from Ludhiana to Dankuni (1,856km) and Western Freight Corridor from Dadri to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (1,504km)—at a total cost of ₹81,000 crore. In the railway budget 2016-17, the government had proposed to take up three more freight corridors. The freight corridors are key to the government’s infrastructure projects that seeks to decongest railway network, ensure faster movement of goods, increase the national carrier’s freight capacity network and reduce overall logistics cost for companies.

Source: Mint July 21, 2019 19:29 UTC