Railways to allow private players to operate freight trains

After starting the process to allow private players to operate passengers trains, Indian Railways is now looking at engaging private firms in operating freight trains in a big way.

The railways, which is expediting the Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) projects, is planning to allow private freight trains on these routes. As per the plan, the railways are working to allow private players to operate double-stack containers or wagons on the DFC route on revenue sharing basis.

The cost to build 3,000 km Eastern and Western dedicated freight corridors will be around Rs 81,459 crore and much of it will come from loans, the railways want to allow private firms to run the operation through monetising the assets and recover its investment.

However, the project has been delaying due to a number of issues including delay in land acquisition, slow work by contractors, law and order issue and unfinished rail over bridges. The Prime Minister Office, which has reviewed the progress of the work, asked railways to expedite the work.

Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL), is implementing the two DFCs -- the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (from Uttar Pradesh to Mumbai) and Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (from Ludhiana in Punjab to Dankuni in West Bengal).

While the original deadline for completion of these DFCs was December 2021, the Railways recently said it has extended it to June 2022 due to Covid-19 pandemic. The DFC is the exclusive corridor for transportation of goods, and once constructed will decongest the railways'' network by moving 70 % of a goods train to these two corridors.

As of July, 56% of Western Dedicated Freight Corridor and 60% of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor was completed said railways.