Why Dedicated freight corridoor

edicated Freight Corridor (DFC) is a railway route, which is dedicated to freight traffic movement only.

DFC has many freight loading terminals and no passenger railway stations/ terminals. Only freight trains run over DFC, stopping at designated freight loading/ unloading terminals. No passenger train is supposed to run on the DFC.

DFC how ever have few technical specialties like heavier rails 68Kg/meter (as against 60/52Kg/M), stronger Permanent way, heavier axle loads 32T (against 22.5/25T), bigger dimensions of wagons etc.

Today DFC is the buzz word in Indian Railway (IR) and is often thought of as a game changer for (IR). The million dollar question that arise is why so ?

Answer to this question with respect to present scenario of IR is delved in-depth below.

A - A picture and analysis of total traffic over IR (Broad Guage)

Normally the Indian Railway (IR) routes carry mixed traffic i.e. various types of freight and passenger trains run on the same railway track with different speeds.

(1) Passenger trains of various types run at higher top-speeds from 90/100 kmph-passenger trains, 100/110 kmph Express/ Super-Fast Express trains, 130/160 kmph fully air conditioned Rajdhani Express type premium trains.

(2) Freight trains run at lower top-speeds 70/90 kmph (loaded ore trains on slower sides and parcel/container trains on faster side) 90/100 kmph (empty freight train).

(3) Usually, higher priority is given to higher speed train and slower one is forced to make an unscheduled stop to give through pass to the faster one running behind it.

(4) As a result a great differential of average speeds of different types of trains exist on IR network like Freight trains (24-25 kmph), Passenger trains (35-36kmph), Express trains (45-54 kmph) Superfast express trains (55-65 kmph) premium super fasts (60-85 kmph) over Freight trains, passenger trains, express trains, Superfast trains,

(5) This results in large number of unscheduled stoppages of slower trains in order to enable a pass/ overtaking to the faster train. And the slower one get further slowed down. Such stoppages of slower trains drastically reduce the sectional capacity of route in terms of number of trains that can be run over it per day.

(6) More the speed differential between the trains, lesser the sectional capacity. Huge speed differential in the IR network has led to lower sectional capacity and only a limited number of freight trains can be carried on existing rly network.

B - Plight of Freight trains in IR

(1) Freight trains are ones with lower priority & lowest speed, they make large number of unscheduled stops to give pass to passenger trains. IR is largest carrier of passenger traffic in the world, so there are plenty of passenger trains on IR network. As a result freight trains are stationary for longer time than they are running!

(2) Since freight trains effectively run for smaller period of their journey, their operational cost has increased, which has further eroded competitiveness of IR vis-à-vis road/ air.

(3) Unlike passenger trains there is no timetable for freight trains, i.e. there is no guarantee when a freight train shall reach its destination. As a result high value freight items like consumer goods etc. have moved away from IR to road/ air. Share of freight/passenger traffic of IR has fallen down from 89%/74% in 1950 to 25%/13% today.

(4) In spite of great technological advancement in IR infrastructure like heavier (60Kg/ M) and stronger (90UTS) rails; Concrete sleepers, Automatic signaling, Stronger locomotives ,faster/better wagons etc., in last 60years, the freight trains in IR are very slow with no guaranteed time to reach destination

C - Why DFC Needed in India-

About 80-85 % of present IR routes were constructed during the British Rule. Main routes interconnecting their major administrative capitals of Kolkata (East), Mumbai (West), Chennai (South) & Delhi (North), called Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) with diagonals carried majority of traffic.

Today these 6 routes comprise of 10000 km of route length constitute of only 16% of total route length and carry about 52% of passenger traffic & 58% of total freight traffic of IR. These route are saturated, with capacity utilization as high as 150%, and are unable to carry additional freight & passenger movement demanded by growing economy. DFC is required for:

(1) In order to create adequate additional capacity for running large number of freight trains to meet (present as well as future) demand and to increase the speed, improve reliability, reduce the cost per ton of freight carried, construction of DFC has been taken up by IR

(2) Speed of passenger trains is adversely affected due to movement of large number of slow moving freight trains in IR network. Many times express trains follow a freight train during its run.

(3) Today most of the main lines of IR are saturated and no more new passenger and freight trains could be run to fulfil the traffic demand.

(4) Freight trains running on the saturated main lines are supposed to switch over to parallel DFC, and capacity so vacated on main lines shall be used to run more passenger trains, which will run considerably faster once slow moving freight trains are removed from their routes.

A Special Purpose Vehicle called Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCC) was incorporated (on 30.8.2006) as a company under Ministry of Railways for construction, operation and maintenance of the dedicated freight corridors in India

D – Objectives of DFCC.

(1) Create additional railway infrastructure to carry unfulfilled demand and to cater future demand.

(2) Segregation and specialized management of Freight traffic on DFC and passenger traffic on conventional track

(3) Running freight trains as per a definite time table with guaranteed delivery schedule

(4) Higher speed of freight trains (100kmph top speed, 75kmph avg. speed, higher productivity and lower cost of transportation per Ton per Km.

(5) Use of latest & cost effective practices in train operation & maintenance, with optimum use of state-of-the-art-technologies in IT/ Rolling stock/ signaling etc.

(6) Increase share of rail traffic by offering customized logistic services to different industries/markets.

F - DFC Plans & progress of IR.

IR plans to construct about 10000 kms of DFC along the six routes of GQ. Two Corridors had been taken up in the first phase, and are planned to be commissioned by 2019-20.

(1) Eastern (North-East) DFC: Ludhiana-Khurja-Kanpur-Mughalsarai-Son Nagar (1318 km) 538 km long Sonnagar-Dankuni (Kolkata) shall be taken up later.Construction

(2) Western(North-West) DFC: Dadri-Rewari-Iqbalgarh, Vadodara-JNPT(near Mumbai) (1504km)

Presently work in about 85-90% of the stretch is in progress.

About 90% of land acquisition is over. Remaining 10% is in process of getting acquired being delayed due to litigations. The failure of passage of land acquisition act in parliament has very badly affected the land acquisition and hence these projects.

Steps to start three more corridors are being taken up in the current financial as second phase.

(1) East-West DFC: Mumbai – Kolkata 2000 km approx

(2) North-South DFC: Delhi – Chennai 2200 km approx..

(3) East coast DFC: Kharagpur – Vijaywada 1100 km approx

Sixth route of DFC i.e. South-West DFC from Chennai to Goa shall be taken in third phase.

Existing Feeder routes which are supposed to connect various ports, coal fields, production/ consumption centres with the DFCs are being strengthened to DFC standards and new feeder route are also being developed.

2016 quora post sanjay

Under implementation:

1. Western Dedicated Freight Corridor, 1,468 km from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai.^[5]
2. Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor, (Ludhiana, 1,760 km from Punjab to Dankuniin West Bengal .^[5]

Approved in January 2018.

1. East-West Dedicated Freight Corridor, 2,000 km-long from Kolkata to Mumbai
2. North-South Dedicated Freight Corridor, 2,173 km long from Delhi to Chennai
3. East Coast Dedicated Freight Corridor, 1,100 km long from Kharagpur to Vijayawada
4. South-West Dedicated Freight Corridor, 890 km-long from Chennai to Goa, this DFC goes through Bangalore-Chennai Industrial Corridor promoted by Japan & India and as a part of Bangalore-Mumbai Economic corridorpromoted by UK & India.