66-km rail stretch of Freight corridor may open to traffic by 2014

NEW DELHI: Railways’ freight corridor project, a 66-km stretch and which will be monitored by the Prime Minister’s Office, is expected to be opened to traffic by 2014. The stretch between Mughalsarai and Sonnagar in the eastern corridor is expected to be commissioned by 2014 and also the civil work on the stretch will be ended by December next year.

The Rs 80,000-crore DFC project, spanning 3,300 km between Ludhiana and Dankuni in the eastern corridor and Dadri and Jawaharlal Nehru Port near Mumbai in the western corridor, will be wrapped up by 2017 according to the plan target.

The corridors will speed up the pace of economic growth and also help the Railways receive a quantum leap in raising its transportation capacity by developing high-capacity network along the golden quadrilateral connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

Presently, these routes make up for 16% of the railway network, but carry over 50% of the overall freight. The civil work on the 66-km section is progressing and pre-qualification tendering process for electrical and signal and telecommunication work is underway. Work on almost 52 bridges on the western corridor have been progressing.

Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had asked the central departments and states to prioritise the project and also speed up work. The work will be monitored by the PMO.