First Freight Train Runs On New Palanpur-Madar Section Of WDFC; Raj, Haryana Industries To Benefit

The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) said this heralds a new chapter for industries in Rajasthan and Haryana which would reap the benefits of faster transport of goods and essentials.

The first freight train consisting of 50 wagons of high speed diesel was run on the newly constructed New Palanpur-Madar section of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) on Wednesday.

The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) said this heralds a new chapter for industries in Rajasthan and Haryana which would reap the benefits of faster transport of goods and essentials.

The opening of this stretch will mean better connectivity to the ports of Gujarat, with the Pipavav, Kandla, Mundra and the Hazira ports connecting to north and northeast India faster, the DFCCIL said in a statement.

This section falls between Rajasthan (approximately 333 km in Sirohi, Pali and Ajmer districts) and Gujarat (19 km in BanasKantha district). It has 98 major bridges and viaducts (12 viaducts/important bridges and 86 major bridges), 531 minor bridges, two rail flyovers, 14 road over bridges and 136 road under bridges, the DFCCIL said.

Industries in Swaroopganj, Banas, Keshavganj, Bangurgram, Beawar, Kishangarh, Phulera, Rewari-Manesar and Narnaul are likely to benefit from this, it said.

In addition to this, the container depot of CONCOR at Swaroopganj, Kathwas will also come on the DFC map and get advantage in terms of faster throughput, the statement said.

The DFCCIL will run freight trains at a maximum speed of 100 km/hour as against the current maximum speed of 75 km/hour on Indian Railway tracks, whereas the average speed of freight trains will also be increased from the existing 26 km/hour on Indian Railway lines to 70 km/hour on Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC), it said.

In the first phase, the DFCCIL is constructing the 1,506 route km of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor and the 1,875 route km of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor.

The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor, starting from Sahnewal near Ludhiana in Punjab, will pass through Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand and terminate at Dankuni in West Bengal.

The Western Corridor connecting Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Mumbai will traverse through Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Source:PTI