Lok Sabha Question No. 5159 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-04-02
Subject: Status of East-West and East Coast DFCs
Ministry: RAILWAYS
Asked by: Shri G Lakshminarayana, Shri Appalanaidu Kalisetti

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 5159 TO BE ANSWERED ON 02.04.2025

## STATUS OF EAST-WEST AND EAST COAST DFCs

5159. SHRI G LAKSHMINARAYANA: SHRI APPALANAIDU KALISETTI:

Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  details  of  all  Dedicated  Freight  Corridors  (DFCs)  including  their current status (completed, ongoing, approved and proposed);
- (b)  the  total  route  length,  investment  and  key  infrastructure  of  each corridor;
- (c)  the  current operational status of the Eastern DFC and Western DFC along with the expected completion timeline for the remaining sections;
- (d)  the  status  of  the  East-West  and  East  Coast  DFCs  including  land acquisition, funding, and execution progress;
- (e) whether the Government has proposed any new freight corridors such as the North-South and Southern DFCs, if so, the estimated timeline for their feasibility studies and approval; and
- (f)  the  expected impact of these corridors on logistics costs, industrial connectivity  and  freight  movement  State-wise  particularly  in  Andhra Pradesh?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW)

- (a)  to  (f):  Ministry  of  Railways  has  taken  up  construction  of  two Dedicated Freight  Corridors  (DFC)   viz.   Eastern   Dedicated    Freight Corridor (EDFC) from Ludhiana to Sonnagar (1337 Km) and the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) from Jawaharlal Nehru  Port  Terminal

(JNPT) to Dadri (1506 Km). Out of total 2843 Km, 2741 Route Kilometers (96.4%)  has  been  commissioned  and  operational.  The  work  in  balance section has been taken up.

Upto Feb'2025, expenditure of ₹ 99,034 crores has been incurred on DFC Corridors.

Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) Project has positive impact on transportation and logistics sector as it enabled enhanced movement of Double  Stack  Container  (DSC)  trains,  higher  axle  load  trains,  faster access of northern hinterland by Western Ports and development of new terminals/linkages  with  industries  along  the  DFC.  The  Eastern  DFC mostly caters to mineral traffic from Eastern India. These developments enabled reduction in logistic cost.

DFC  has  contributed  to  creating  additional  paths  on  the  conventional network by diverting freight traffic to EDFC and WDFC. Traffic on DFC in 2024-25 (till Feb.2025) has reached to 352 average trains per day. In Feb. 2025, 371 average trains per day were run. As a result,  Railways  have been  able to  run  additional  goods  and  coaching  services  over its network with better punctuality.

Currently railways is working on increasing the capacity of its network. The line from Kolkata to Chennai (1685 km) is a high traffic density route of  Indian  Railways along east coast of India, identified for quadrupling. Status of projects are as below:

| Section                              | Status of 3 rd & 4 th line                                      |
|--------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| South Eastern Railway                |                                                                 |
| Kolkata (Howrah)- Kharagpur (109 km) | 3 rd line is operational. Survey of 4 th line has been taken up |
| Kharagpur -Narayangarh (28 km)       | 3 rd line is operational. Survey of 4 th line has been taken up |
| Narayangarh-Bhadrak (152 km)         | 35 Km out of 153 km 3 rd line commissioned. Work in balance     |

|                                     | section has been taken up. Survey of 4 th line has been taken up                                                                                                                        |
|-------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| East Coast Railway                  | East Coast Railway                                                                                                                                                                      |
| Bhadrak-Nergundi (104 km)           | 41 Km out of 104 km 3 rd line commissioned. Work in balance section has been taken up. Survey of 4 th line has been taken up                                                            |
| Nergundi - Barang (22 km)           | 3 rd line is Sanctioned. Land acquisition in progress Survey of 4 th line has been taken up                                                                                             |
| Barang - Khurda Road (35 km)        | 3 rd line is operational. Survey of 4 th line has been taken up                                                                                                                         |
| Khurda road - Vizianagaram (363 km) | 3 rd line is Sanctioned. Land acquisition in progress Survey of 4 th line has been taken up                                                                                             |
| Vizianagaram -Kottavalasa (35 km)   | 3 rd line is operational between Vizianagaram -Kottavalasa Construction of 4 th line between - Vizianagaram - Kottavalasa (35 km) has been taken up                                     |
| Kottavalasa-Vishakhapatnam (26 km)  | 3 rd & 4 th line is operational between Kottavalasa - Vishakhapatnam                                                                                                                    |
| South Central Railway               | South Central Railway                                                                                                                                                                   |
| Vishakhapatnam -Nidadvolu (223 km)  | Survey of 3 rd &4 th line has been taken up                                                                                                                                             |
| Nidadvolu-Vijaywada (154 km)        | There are existing 4 lines between Nidadvolu-Vijaywada 2 lines via Eluru and 2 lines via Bhimavaram Jn. Survey of 3 rd line has been taken up for Vijaywada - Eluru- Nidadvolu section. |
| Vijaywada-Gudur (292 km)            | 241 Km out of 292 km 3 rd line commissioned. Work in balance section has been taken up. Survey of 4 th line has been taken up                                                           |
| Southern Railway                    | Southern Railway                                                                                                                                                                        |
| Gudur-Attipattu (115 km)            | Survey of 3 rd & 4 th line has been taken up                                                                                                                                            |
| Attipattu-Chennai (27 km)           | 3 rd and 4 th lines are operational                                                                                                                                                     |

Indian Railways has imbibed the principles of Gati Shakti in its project planning process and now survey of all Multi tracking projects are taken up  under  PM  Gati  Shakti  National    Master    Plan    (NMP)    for    the development      of      multimodal  connectivity  infrastructure  to  various Economic Zones with an objective to have integrated planning, capacity augmentation, enhanced logistics efficiency and remove gaps for seamless movement  of people, goods/commodities i.e. agricultural products,  fertilizers,  coal,  iron  ore,  steel,  cement,  limestone  etc.  and services including connectivity to places of strategic importance, border areas, industrial clusters, ports, mines, power plants, villages etc.

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