Three new dedicated freight corridors on track

Subject: Geography

Section: Eco geography

Context:

The Indian Railways plans to introduce at least three more dedicated freight corridors, including commodity-specific routes, to enhance freight movement and allocate regular tracks more efficiently for passenger trains.

Details:

These corridors will span the east coast, north-south, and east-west routes, covering a total of 4,300 km, with an estimated project cost of ₹2,00,000 crore.
The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd is preparing network alignment reports for all three corridors.
This initiative aims primarily to relieve congestion on the critical Delhi–Howrah and Delhi–Mumbai routes, facilitating faster freight movement and improving the availability of tracks for passenger trains.

East Coast track:

The first proposed dedicated freight corridor along the East Coast runs parallel to the coastal passenger rail line, stretching approximately 1,200 km from Kharagpur in West Bengal to Tenali in Andhra Pradesh.
This route traverses the mineral-rich states of Bengal and Odisha, including connectivity to Vizag port, and focuses on transporting coal, fertiliser, iron ore, steel, and other commodities.
Extending the corridor to Tenali enhances port connectivity with Chennai as well.

North-South corridor:

The North-South Corridor, the second proposed route, spans approximately 1,000-1,200 km from Itarshi in Madhya Pradesh to Tenali, Andhra Pradesh.
This corridor is planned to run through Itarsi, Nagpur, Vijayawada, and end at Tenali, passing through four states: Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh.
It is designed to facilitate the movement of coal, cement, fertilisers, petroleum, and oil lubricants, among other commodities.
There’s a long-term plan to extend the corridor from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Itarshi, which would link the operational Dedicated Freight Corridor with the upcoming one.

Proposal underway for a third:

A third corridor proposal is in progress for the East-West route, connecting Andal in West Bengal to Palgarh in Maharashtra, covering about 2,100 km with an additional 300 km of spur lines.
This corridor will traverse five states:West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Maharashtra.
There has been some route redesign, and the Detailed Project Report (DPR) is expected to be finalized and submitted by the end of April.
The corridor aims to facilitate the transport of major commodities like coal, iron-ore, bauxite, manganese, ferro alloys, steel, and access to major and minor ports, as well as supporting the movement of goods for the thermal power plants, POL cement plants, Container Corporation (CONCOR), Inland Container Depots (ICDs), and Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns among others.