Ambitious coal transport plans may test Railways

Subject: Geography

Section: Economic geography

Context:

Indian Railways’ plan to raise the quantum of coal to be transported by rail by at least 400 million tonne (mt) in the next eight years face congestion and logistical challenges, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) said in a report.

Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC):

EDFC with a route length of 1856 km consists of two distinct segments: an electrified double-track segment of 1409 km between Dankuni in West Bengal & Khurja in Uttar Pradesh& an electrified single-track segment of 447 km between Ludhiana (Dhandarikalan) – Khurja – Dadri in the state of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
It traverses through 6 states viz. Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
Eastern Corridor is projected to cater to a number of traffic streams-coal for the power plants in the northern region of U.P., Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and parts of Rajasthan from the Eastern coal fields, finished steel, food grains, cement, fertilizers, limestone from Rajasthan to steel plants in the east and general goods.

Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC):

It is a broad gauge corridor that extends for 1,504 kilometers, starting at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh and concluding at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust near Mumbai.
The project is being funded through a soft loan of $4 billion from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) under special terms for economic partnership (STEP).
Key Locations: The corridor passes through Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Palanpur, Phulera, and Rewari, traversing through the states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra.

Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd. (DFCCIL):

DFCCIL under the Ministry of Railways is a special purpose vehicle tasked with planning and completion of 3,306 kms of Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs), consisting of western freight corridor and eastern freight corridor (1,856 kms). The total project cost is estimated at over ₹81,000 crore.
The construction of DFCs project would enable the decongestion of existing over-saturated paths which, thereby, will effectively improve punctuality of passenger trains.