The draft National Rail Plan (NRP) issued by the Indian Railways has recommended the construction of three additional Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) in a phased manner in an effort to de-congest the high-density rail networks over Indian Railways.
This construction will take place above the two DFCs, which are currently underway– EDFC between Ludhiana and Dankuni and WDFC between Dadri and JNPT.
The three DFCs that have been recommended are the East-West DFC (between Palghat and Andal), the North South DFC between Pirthala (near Palwal) and Arakkonam (near Chennai) and the East Coast DFC between Hijli (near Kharagpur) and Vijayawada
East -West DFC
The East- West DFC starts from Palghar (on Western DFC, near Vangaon station on IR), and has two destination points – one terminates at Andal on the EDFC and the other at Kamarkundu a new station on the EDFC near Dankuni.
The distance covered by this DFC is 2328 km. It has a total of 37 junction stations (31 on Palghar – Andal Line and 6 on Rajkharswan – Kamarkundu Line) and 29 crossing stations have been proposed on this corridor.
It will be built in two phases- Nagpur -Dankuni (1077 km) and Palghar -Nagpur(936 km)
North -South DFC
It starts from Pirthala near Palwal and ends at Arakkonam near Chennai on Chennai- Bengaluru line.One connection has been proposed at Thiruvalangadu on the Chennai side and the other at Melapakkam on the Bengaluru side.
The proposed route length is 2327.6 km having 21 junction stations and 43 crossing stations.
It will be built in two phases- Itarsi-Nagpur- Vijayawada- Chennai (1206 km) and Palwal – Itarsi (751 km).
East Coast DFC
It starts from Hijli near Kharagpur and ends at Vijayawada railway station and the North-South DFC. The proposed route length is 1114.7 km with 15 junction stations and 16 crossing stations.
It will be constructed in a single phase.
Points of intersection:
The East-West DFC will intersect other DFCs as follows:-
Western DFC at Palghar near Mumbai
North-South DFC at Sindi near Nagpur
Eastern DFC at Andal and Kamarkundu near Dankuni
East Coast DFC at Hijli
Similarly, the North-South DFC will have the following intersections-
Western DFC at Palwal
Eastern DFC at Tundla
East Coast DFC at Vijayawada
