Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) UPSC

Dedicated Freight Corridor

• Dedicated Freight Corridor is a high-speed and high-capacity railway corridor dedicated exclusively for freight (goods and commodity) movement.

• The project was first proposed in April 2005 to address the needs of the rapidly developing Indian economy.

• In 2006, the Government of India established a dedicated body, the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL), to develop two corridors- Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) and Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC). 

• Four more Freight Corridors were also announced in 2010. 

• East-West Corridor (Kolkata-Mumbai)
• North-South Corridor (Delhi-Chennai)
• East Coast Corridor (Kharagpur-Vijaywada) 
• Southern Corridor (Chennai-Goa) 

Significance of Dedicated Freight Corridor

• Reduce unit cost of transportation by speeding up freight train operations & higher productivity:

• Dedicated Freight Corridor can allow train speed to a maximum of 100 kmph from the current average speed of around 25kmph.
• It will allow a time-tabled freight services for movement of the cargo to the gateway ports with guaranteed transit time. This would enhance international connectivity from India.

• Improving Carrying Capacity: By adopting state-of-the-art technology, Dedicated Freight Corridor will make significant improvement in basic design features (More height, width, container stack etc.) that will enable it to withstand heavier loads at higher speeds.

• The current axle load of wagons is 22.9MT which for the DFC would be enhanced to 32.5 MT. The enhancement would cater to the transportation requirement for the next 50 years.

• Increase rail share in freight market: by providing customized logistic services. It will also introduce of high-end technology & IT packing of Freight Services.

• There will be segregated freight infrastructure for focused approach on both passenger and freight business of Railways. 

• Decongestion of traffic: The golden quadrilateral which is just 16% of rail network carries 58% of total freight traffic.

• Golden Quadrilateral is a national highway network connecting most of the major industrial, agricultural and cultural centres of India.

• New Economic Activity: It will facilitate fresh industrial activity and multi-modal value-addition services hubs along the corridors. For example: 

• EDFC benefit will include coal for power plants in the northern region from coalfields in Bihar, Jharkhand and Bengal.

• Reduction in Pollution: As per a 30 year greenhouse gas (GHS) emission forecast, if there were no dedicated freight corridors, the GHG emissions would be 582 million ton CO2, while the emissions with the two Dedicated Freight Corridor's in service would be less than one-fourth at 124.5 million ton CO2.

• Also, the goods moved by road had 3 times the emission rate in comparison to the corresponding movement by rail.

Challenges faced

• Issue of Land Acquisition: Due to route alignment, the railways have to acquire large swathes of private land that are already developed, making the construction of the corridor difficult. The ministry is also required to pay market price for any land acquisition, further compounding to financial problem.

• Concern over technology: While the railways want to run double-stacked containers in the Delhi-Mumbai corridor on diesel locomotives, Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which has financed the project, has suggested electric ones, saying it is more environment-friendly.

• With an inclination towards using renewable resources in future, viability of the corridor could be a concern since the majority of the traffic was expected to be coal for power plants in northern India from the coal fields in the east.

• Double stack vs single stack: The project has adopted different technical standards for WDFC and EDFC. WDFC would have moving dimensions made for double stacked containers and moving dimensions for EDFC are being made for single stack container operations. 

• This makes seamless movement of double stack trains from WDFC to EDFC impossible.
• Double-stack rail transport is a form of intermodal freight transport where railroad cars carry two layers of intermodal containers.

• Slow progress: The progress for both Logistics Parks and Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor has been very slow which will have an impact on overall objective of project.