The Indian Railways will add 350 km to 400 km of Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) by March 2021.
The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) is constructing 1,504 km long Western DFC and 1,856 km long Eastern DFC.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently inaugurated 306 km long Rewari-Madar section of the Western DFC and 351 km long new Bhaupur-Khurja section of Eastern DFC.
It is making dedicated freight corridors to provide exclusive movement on fast speeds for goods trains. These are freight corridors which only carry freight traffic, therefore adding the speed exponentially, and bringing down the cost while adding huge capacity to be able to transport volume goods as well as a small parcel.
The Eastern DFC starting from Sahnewal near Ludhiana in Punjab will pass through the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand to terminate at Dankuni in West Bengal.
On the other hand, the Western DFC starts from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Mumbai will traverse through the states of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra of WDFC.
The 2,800 km route is likely to be commissioned by June 2022.