Direct freight corridor’s western stretch to be ready by the end of FY 2024

The ambitious Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC), designed especially for freight transportation, will be ready by the end of the current financial year. The freight corridor will decongest the existing network of Indian railways as almost all the goods trains will start moving using this corridor. Up to now, around 1,279km of the total 1,506km long stretch has been completed by WDFC that will link the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Terminal (JNPT), Mumbai to Dadri.

DFCCIL’s Director (infrastructure), Hari Mohan Gupta stated that they have achieved a milestone as the trial run is completed on the newly developed railway lines connection Gothangam to Makarpura through Surat, Bharuch and Vadodara and now this line will see regular movement of goods trains. He also added that around a 565 km stretch in Gujarat, around 170 km stretch is still pending and it will be completed by this financial year.

Besides that, the regional connection from New Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Sanand in Gujarat is already completed and around 90 trains travel every day on this line. All the key ports of the Gujarat area are connected to WDFC. Now the container does not take more than 12 hours from Delhi & National Capital Region to reach Gujarat or vice versa. Reduction in transportation costs leads to reduced logistics costs. The work between Sanand to Makarpura, which is a 138 km stretch is in full swing and will be completed soon.

On the Makarpura-Gothangam section, on which the trial runs of goods trains have begun, DFCCIL has connected IR’s Gothangam station to DFC Gothangam and DFC Gothangam to DFC Makarpura which in turn is connected to IR’s Makarpura station.

Apart from the freight connectivity, the biggest benefit will be on the front of improving the speed of passenger trains to 160 km per hour. As the goods train will focus on DFC, there will be substantial time to upgrade the current railway infrastructure to achieve the 160 km per hour speed.

As DFCCIL targets to complete a 30 km stretch from Gothangam to Bhesthan, it anticipates connecting Makarpura to Gholvad in Maharashtra within this calendar year.