By Nayan Dave
Gujarat’s industrial hub Sanand, the place main manufacturing models of Tata Motors, Nestle, Parle, Posco India, Coca Cola, Bosch, Hitachi Hirel, Alstom Bharat Forge, Colgate-Palmolive and others are located, is all set to attach with the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) by the top of August.
“Of the total 1,504 km of double line electric tracks planned between Rewari to Mumbai as part of WDFC, more than 720 km have already become operational from Rewari to Mehsana. At present 80 to 100 goods trains are running on WDFC daily. Another 80-km electric track from Mehsana to Sanand, on the outskirts of Ahmedabad will be commissioned in the next couple of months,” Ravindra Kumar Jain, managing director at Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL), advised FE.
The ministry of railways fashioned DFCCIL, a Special Purpose Vehicle for building, operation and upkeep of the devoted freight Corridors (DFCs) within the nation. DFCCIL was arrange in 2006 with the mandate to construct, function, and preserve devoted freight railway traces alongside the Golden Quadrilateral rail routes and its diagonals.
Due to WDFC connectivity, not solely Sanand industrial hub however industries on the upcoming Mandal–Becharaji Special Investment Region (SIR) can even profit. Suzuki Motor and Honda Scooters have already got crops right here. WDFC passes by way of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Nearly 38% (565 km) of the entire size of WDFC passes by way of Gujarat’s 12 districts. Due to WDFC, Gujarat-based ports together with Pipavav, Mundra, Kandla, Hazira and others will get a giant increase in import-export visitors motion.
Jain claims that Gujarat’s 565 route kilometres (RKM) will develop into operational by the top of the present monetary 12 months. Except 100 km of RKM from New Palghar to JNPT (Mumbai), the complete WDFC is anticipated to be commissioned by June 2023 as DFCCIL is dealing with points associated to surroundings clearance and land acquisition.
The total Western Corridor is being funded by way of a mortgage from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in two phases. JICA agreed to present a mortgage of almost Rs 210 billion for phase-I Rewari-Vadodara (947 RKM) and Rs 180 billion for phase-2 Vadodara–JNPT (430 RKM). Once absolutely operational, as much as 500 trains will run on WDFC each day.
In reality, DFCCIL had deliberate to make WDFC and Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) by June 2022, however attributable to Covid-19 pandemic, tempo of labor slowed down. “EDFC’s 1340 RKM form will be commissioned by the end of June 2023. At present 620 RKM out of total is operational. Nearly 60 trains are running on EDFC currently. We are hopeful of completing work for both the DFCs in one year except the 100 km patch in Maharashtra,” stated DFCCIL MD.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”