Railway Ministry advances infrastructure with DFCs, modernization initiatives with enhanced freight capacity
NEW DELHI : Union Minister of Railways, Information & Broadcasting and Electronics & Information Technology Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw informed in a written reply in Lok Sabha that, the Ministry of Railways has taken up construction of two Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) viz. Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) from Ludhiana to Sonnagar (1337 Km) and the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) from Jawaharlal Nehru Port Terminal (JNPT) to Dadri (1506 Km). Out of total 2843 Km, 2741 Route Kilometers (96.4%) has been commissioned and operational. The work in balance section has been taken up.
Ministry of Railways has undertaken the work of preparation of Detailed Project Reports (DPR) for following three (03) new Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs).
(i) East-Coast Corridor: Kharagpur to Vijayawada
(ii) East-West corridor:
(a) Palghar-Bhusawal-Nagpur-Kharagpur-Dankuni
(b) Rajkharsawan – Kalipahari – Andal
(iii) North-South Sub-corridor: Vijayawada-Nagpur–Itarsi
DPRs of above three corridors are under examination.
None of the above three DFCs have been sanctioned yet. The DFC Projects are highly capital intensive and the final decision regarding the sanction of any DFC Project depends upon many factors such as technical feasibility, financial & economic viability, traffic demand and availability of funds & financial options etc.
Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) Project will have positive impact on transportation and logistics sector as it will enable enhanced movement of Double Stack Container (DSC) trains, higher axle load trains, faster access of northern hinterland by Western Ports and development of new terminals/linkages with industries along the DFC. The Eastern DFC will mostly cater to mineral traffic from Eastern India. These developments will enable reduction in logistic cost.
DFC has contributed to creating additional paths on the conventional network by diverting freight traffic to EDFC and WDFC. Traffic on DFC has increased from 247 average trains per day in 2023-24 to 352 average trains per day in 2024-25 (till Feb.2025). In Feb. 2025, 371 average trains per day were run. As a result, Railways have been able to run additional goods and coaching services over its network with better punctuality. Due to the increase in services, both freight and coaching, Indian Railways’ earnings from train services have gone up.
Modernisation and upgradation of railway infrastructure is a need based and ongoing process subject to operational requirement, technical feasibility, commercial viability, resource availability, etc.
A number of works have been taken up to modernize and upgrade railway infrastructure including rolling stock and signaling system. Some of them are as under:
- Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) has been introduced in 2017-18, for replacement/renewal/upgradation of critical safety assets, with a corpus of ₹1 lakh crore for five years. Currency of the Fund has been extended for another five-year term beyond 2021-22 with GBS support of ₹45,000 Cr. An outlay of ₹ 12800 Cr has been provided in RE 2024-25.
- Electrical/Electronic Interlocking Systems with centralized operation of points and signals have been provided at 6623 stations up to 28.02.2025.
- Interlocking of Level Crossing (LC) Gates has been provided at 11089 level Crossing Gates up to 28.02.2025 for enhancing safety at LC Gates.
- Block Proving Axle Counters (BPACs) systems have been provided on 6126 Block Sections up to 28.02.2025.
- Automatic block Signaling (ABS) has been provided at 5221 Route Kms up to 28.02.2025.
- Indian Railway has also gone for implementation of advance technology system ‘Kavach’ as an Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system. Kavach is indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system which required safety certification of highest order. Kavach has also been adopted as a National ATP system in July 2020.
- Crew Video and Voice Recording System (CVVRS) has been provided in Locomotives for post event analysis
- Head on Generation (HOG) scheme has been implemented in passenger locomotives for feeding electric supply to LHB coaches for train lighting and air conditioning thereby reducing carbon emission, noise level and consumption of fossil fuels.
- Railways has taken long term plan to acquire new technology 12000 HP electric locomotives and 9000 HP electric locomotives for freight operation. For manufacturing new technology based 9000
High Horse Power Electric Freight Locomotives, a manufacturing unit, having modern World class manufacturing facilities, sanctioned at Dahod.
- With a view to increase throughput, RDSO has issued technical specification for modern wagons (Modern Open Wagon & Modern Brake Van). In the recent past, multi-purpose and higher carrying capacity wagons have been designed by RDSO. These wagons will help in better utilization of rolling assets and increased throughput per rake.
- Introduction of IGBT based 3-phase propulsion system with regenerative braking in Electrical Multiple Unit (EMU) trains, Mainline Electrical Multiple Unit (MEMU) trains, Kolkata Metro rakes and Electric Train Sets.
- Provision of 750 V external power supply at washing/sick lines for maintenance and testing of LHB coaches resulting in significant saving of diesel.
- In order to modernize and upgrade the track structure, the steps
taken include laying of track structure consisting of 60 kg/90 Ultimate Tensile Strength (UTS) rails on Pre-stressed Reinforced Concrete (PSC) sleepers with elastic fastening, laying of 130 meter/260 meter longer rails to avoid welding of joints, adoption of better welding technology for rails i.e. Flash Butt Welding, use of thick web switches and Weldable Cast Manganese Steel (WCMS) crossings, using improved fittings, maintenance of track with the help of track machines, Ultrasonic Flaw Detection (USFD) testing of rails, etc.
- In order to facilitate easy movement of elderly, sick, differently abled passengers and for smooth access to platforms of railway stations and for ease of movement, Lifts and Escalators are provided depending on the relative priority of stations, availability of resources and techno-economic feasibility.
The Average Annual Budget allocation for New Line, Gauge Conversion and Doubling Projects across Indian Railways is given below:
| Period | Average Outlay | Increase w.r.t. average allocation of 2009-14 |
| 2009-14 | ₹ 11,527 crore/year | – |
| 2024-25 | 68,634 crores | Nearly 6 times |
To increase the freight handling capacity in IR, ‘Gati Shakti Multi- Modal Cargo Terminal (GCT)’ policy has been launched on 15.12.2021 with the objective of increasing investment from industry in development of additional terminals for handling rail cargo. GCTs are also equipped with facility of mechanized loading / unloading which will, contribute in reduction of transit time and costs for business. So far, 97 GCTs have been commissioned which enable additional freight traffic for Railways. Further In-principle approval (IPAs) for 277 proposals for Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals have already been issued.
Freight loading and revenue during the last five years: –
| Year | Freight Loading (In million Tonnes) | Revenue Earning from Goods(₹ in Crore) |
| 2019-2024 | 6952.3 | 7,02,372.29 |