1,176 km of 1,506-km WDFC complete : Railway Minister

NEW DELHI : Railway Minister Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw has informed Rajya Sabha, that out of the 1,506 km Western Dedicated Freight Corridor(WDFC), 1,176 km has been completed. The Western Dedicated Freight Corridor connecting Jawaharlal Nehru Port Terminal to Dadri passes through Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Mehsana, Patan, Banas Kantha, Anand, Kheda, Vadodara, Bharuch, Surat, Valsad and Navsari districts in Gujarat, he said last Friday.

Responding to a question by BJP MP Rambhai Harjibhai Mokaria, the railway minister said the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor will promote industrial activities in the region by leveraging the industrial corridors, townships, new freight terminals, multimodal cargo terminals, multimodal logistic parks and inland container depots in Gujarat.

Better and faster connectivity of western ports with the hinterland industries will reduce transit time and logistic costs for the customers, Vaishnaw said.

Mokaria wanted to know the present status of the construction work on the Delhi-Mumbai Freight Corridor and the percentage of work completed. He also sought to know the number of districts of Gujarat through which this corridor is passing through and the details of the benefits of the construction of this corridor to these districts.

Reports in a section of media had earlier claimed that 1,279 km of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor has been completed. However, officials of Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited clarified that the correct figure is 1,176 km which the minister presented in Parliament.