Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor or Eastern DFC is an under-construction

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...

freight corridor in India. The railway will run between Ludhiana in Punjab and

Dankuni Dankuni is a city and a municipality of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is now part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA). It is considered posh area in Hooghly. Geography Location Da ...

(near Kolkata) in West Bengal via

Khurja Khurja is a city (and a municipal board) in Bulandshahr district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is situated around 20 km from Bulandshahr, 85 km from Delhi. Khurja supplies a large portion of the ceramics used in the country, henc ...

in Uttar Pradesh. This railway line is one of the multiple freight corridors being constructed by the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL), a public-sector unit (PSU) under the Ministry of Railways. The Eastern DFC will mostly have double tracks and will be electrified, but the section from Ludhiana to Khurja (365 km) will be single line electrified due to lack of space. This freight corridor will cover a total distance of 1,839 km. This corridor is having a 46 km branch line which is joining Khurja ( Bulandshahr district) on the Eastern DFC with Dadri ( Gautam Buddha Nagar district) on the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (Western DFC). As of June 2022, 923 km or 50% of the Eastern DFC has been completed and 99% required land for these have been acquired. The Eastern DFC is expected to be complete by March 2023. First two DFCs, Western DFC, from Dadri, Uttar Pradesh to JNPT ( Navi Mumbai) and Eastern DFC from Punjab to West Bengal, which will decongest railway network by moving 70% of India's goods trains to these two corridors, are both on track for completion in March 2023. However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which caused lockdowns, curfews and restrictions, it resulted in delays in work due to lack of labour.

Route

The freight corridor will cover first 447 km of Ludhiana - Dhari -

section with single electrified track. After this the remaining line will be double track electrified up to

in West Bengal. This will pass through the important districts of Sahnewal, Doraha, Ludhiana,

Sirhind Sirhind-Fategarh is a town and a municipal council in the Fatehgarh Sahib district in the Indian state of Punjab. Demographics In the 2011 census Sirhind-Fatehgarh had a population of 60852. Males constituted 54% of the population and female ...

, Rajpura, Ambala, Yamunanagar,

Saharanpur Saharanpur is a city and a municipal corporation in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is also the administrative headquarters of Saharanpur district. Saharanpur city's name was given after the Saint Shah Haroon Chishti. Saharanpur is declared as on ...

, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Aligarh,

Hathras Hathras is a historical city in Uttar Pradesh, India. It is also the headquarters of Hathras district, formed on 3 May 1997 by merging parts of Aligarh, Mathura and Agra. It is a part of the Aligarh Division. The primary spoken language is a ...

, Barhan, Tundla, Firozabad, Etawah,

Kanpur Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...

, Prayagraj and Chandauli. To reduce load over the main line, this line will have many junctions. The proposed junctions on this line are Dhandharikalan,

, Rajpura, Khalanaur,

, Daudkhan, Tundla, Bhaupur,

Prempur Prempur is a village in Phagwara in Kapurthala district of Punjab, India, Punjab States and territories of India, State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter and from district headquarter. The village is Administration (government ...

, Karchhana, Jeonathpur, Mughalsarai Junction railway station, Ganjkhwaja, Sasaram, Dehri On Sone,

Son Nagar Son Nagar Junction is a railway station in Aurangabad district it serves Barun , Daudnagar towns of Bihar. It is located on the east bank of the Son River and was earlier known as Son East Bank. History The Upper Soane Bridge, connecting ...

Gomoh Gomoh (better known as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Junction Gomoh) is a census town in Topchanchi CD Block Dhanbad Sadar subdivision of Dhanbad district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It has a major railway junction, which was renamed Netaj ...

Andal Andal ( ta, ஆண்டாள்), also known as Kothai, Nachiyar, and Godadevi, was the only female Alvar among the twelve Hindu poet-saints of South India. She was posthumously considered an avatar of the goddess Bhudevi. As with the Alv ...

, Bardhaman and

(The eastern terminal point).

Construction

This corridor is divided into multiple sections for contracting purposes.

Operations control center (OCC)

Built by

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...

at Prayagraj, OCC will house command and control center to monitor all trains and power supply systems on Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor. It will be staffed by 150 people and the facility is spread across 4.2 acres. Djg9hqNXsAA8fRi

Status updates

* Apr 2005: Project announced by the then Prime Minister of India

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indir ...

. * Oct 2006: The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) is formed by the Ministry of Railways on 30 October 2006. * Feb 2008: Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approves Western DFC and Eastern DFC. * Sep 2009: Union Cabinet approved JICA loan.

References

External links