Govt planning 4,000-km dedicated freight corridor to connect industries

The government is planing to build a massive 4,000 km dedicated freight corridor connecting industries in the east and west to the south via Andhra, Odisha ports to ensure faster movement of goods and fuel industrial growth.

As per the document on proposed dedicated freight corridor, these DFCs are -- 1,115-km East Coast corridor from Kharagpur (West Bengal) to Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh); the East-West corridor which comprises 1,673 km connecting Bhusaval-Nagpur-Kharagpur-Dankuni (near Kolkata) route, and 195-km Rajkharswan-Kalipahari-Andal (West Bengal) route.

The third is the 975-km North South sub-corridor Vijayawada-Nagpur-Itarsi (Madhya Pradesh) route.

The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) will start survey of the project which will be one of the big projects the NDA wanted to take up in the coming days.

The proposed freight corridor will connect Paradeep, Dhamra, Gopalpur Ports in Odisha and Vishakhapatnam, Gangavaram, Kakinada, Krishnapatnam and Machhalipatanam ports in Andhra Pradesh.

The DFCCIL is already building the first two freight corridors - Eastern Freight Corridor from Ludhiana to Dankuni, and Western Freight Corridor from Dadri to Jawaharlal Nehru Port. These two are set to be completed by 2021.