Western Dedicated Freight Corridor
The Western Dedicated Freight Corridor or Western DFC is a 1,506 km long, under-construction 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) freight corridor in India. It will connect Dadri in Uttar Pradesh (near Delhi) with Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Navi Mumbai, Raigad District, Maharashtra. The corridor is being built by the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL), a public-sector unit (PSU) under the Ministry of Railways and would be electrified with double-line operation. The Western DFC entails a new single-line branch from Prithla in Palwal district to Tughlakabad in Delhi, running parallel to the existing New Delhi–Faridabad–Palwal railway line.
| Western Dedicated Freight Corridor | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| Status | 1046 km - Operational 460 km - Under construction (69% Completion) |
| Owner | DFCCIL Ministry of Railways |
| Locale | Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra |
| Termini |
|
| Service | |
| Type | Freight rail |
| System | DFCCIL |
| Operator(s) | Indian Railways |
| Rolling stock | WAG-9, WAG-12 |
| History | |
| Planned opening | March 2023 |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 1,506 km (936 mi) |
| Track gauge | 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) Indian broad gauge |
| Electrification | 25 kV 50 Hz AC overhead catenary |
Western Dedicated Freight Corridor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Western DFC is exclusively for transporting freight at higher speeds with increased load carrying capacity. The main freight commodities include fertilizers, food grains, salt, coal, iron, steel and cement. It uses Flash Butt Welded head-hardened (HH) 250 m long rails with axle load capacity of 25 t on tracks and 32.5 ton bridges, compared to the existing 22.9 t to 25 t axle load used on Indian Railway tracks. The line will support freight trains reaching 1,500 m (4,900 ft) length, pulled by high-power WAG12 electric locomotives and running at speeds greater than 100 km/h (62 mph). The tracks will be entirely grade-separated and have a generous loading gauge of 3,660 mm (12 ft 1⁄8 in) width and 7,100 mm (23 ft 3+1⁄2 in) maximum height allowing for the double-stacked shipping container on flatcars to be transported, in contrast to wellcars used in other countries for double-stack rail transport. This allows for single trains to have a 400-container capacity. Trains will have radio communications and GSM-based tracking – a first in the Indian railway sector.
The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (Eastern DFC) has a 46 km long branch line, that connects Khurja in Bulandshahr district on Eastern DFC with Dadri in Gautam Buddha Nagar district on the Western DFC.
Meerut is proposed as the largest Logistic Hub in EDFC due to its nodal connectivity via several expressways.
The Western DFC, along with the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway, will be a vital backbone of the Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC). The Western DFC will cross the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway at 2 places in Haryana: Sancholi village (Gurgaon district) and Paroli village (Palwal district).