Goyal reviews DFC project, asks officials to track progress daily

New Delhi, Jan 11 (IANS) Eyeing completion of the ambitious Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) by June 2022, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday reviewed the progress of various sections under completion on both the East and West corridors and said that it needs to be monitored on daily basis.Goyal was apprised by railway officials about the progress being made in all the sections and also some of the challenges being faced by them in getting work completed in certain sections.The Minister said that project needs to be monitored on a daily basis to ensure that completed project is handed over to the nation by June 2022.He said that as the project completion gathers momentum, emphasis also needs to be given on development of freight terminals along the corridor to be boost business operations for all stake holders.According to Railway Ministry officials, Indian Railways is making dedicated freight corridors to provide exclusive movement on fast speeds for goods trains.In the first phase, DFCCIL is constructing the Western DFC (1,504 route km) and Eastern DFC (1,856 route km including PPP section of Sonnagar-Dankuni Section).The EDFC starting from Sahnewal near Ludhiana (Punjab) will pass through Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand to terminate at Dankuni in West Bengal. The Western Corridor connecting Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Mumbai will traverse through Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra of WDFC and EDFC (excluding the Sonnagar-Dankuni PPP section) i.e. 2,800 route Km will be commissioned by June 2022.
--IANS aks/vd