Parliament panel suggests constructing more freight corridors to increase railways revenue

New Delhi: A Parliamentary Standing Committee has suggested the Ministry of Railways to expedite the construction of new DFCs (dedicated freight corridors) across the country to increase Railways' revenues by increasing the share of freight loading via train.

The Standing Committee on Railways headed by BJP Lok Sabha member C M Ramesh in its report pointed out that the average speed of freight trains during the year 2013-24 was only 25.14 km/h.

“The Committee further feels that creation of DFCs is of prime importance to increase the speed of freight trains, thereby increasing freight loading as well as earnings of Indian Railways,” the report said.

“The Committee is aware that most of the earnings of Indian Railways comes from its freight loading activities. In 2023-24, Indian Railways earned revenue of Rs. 1,68,293 crore from freight traffic and a target to achieve Rs. 1,80,000 crore during 2024-25. The Committee noted that the percentage share of Indian Railways in freight traffic in the country is 26 per cent,” the report which was tabled in the just concluded Parliament said.

At present, there are two dedicated freight corridors viz. the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor, from Ludhiana to Sonnagar (1337 km), and the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor from JNPT (Mumbai) to Dadri (1506 km) under construction. The work on EDFC has been completed and the 102 Km section remaining on WDFC from Vaitarna to JNPT is expected to be completed by December, 2025.

The railways said that gradual shifting of a small portion/segment of the freight traffic from the Indian railway network to the DFC network has helped ease the line capacity utilization over certain select sections. The full and envisaged benefits of DFC would accrue only upon its proliferation, the railways said.

The railways already prepared detailed project reports for three more new corridors such as East Coast Freight Corridor (Kharagpur to Vijaywada), East West Corridor (Kharagpur and Palghar) and North South Freight Corridor (Vijaywada to Itarsi).