Madar-Palanpur section of Western Dedicated Freight Corridor commisioned

First Goods Train in New Marwar Rajasthan  – New Palanpur Gujarat section departed at 9:45Hrs from Marwar. With this, now all the 3 Cement sidings got seamlessly connected with the Madar-Palanpur section of Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) on Friday.

  • The 3 cement sidings are:-
    • Shree Cements with DFC New Bangurgram
    • UltraTech Cement (Aditya Birla Group) (Nathdwara) with DFC New Keshavganj
    • JK Lakshmi Cement Limited ith DFC New Banas stations
  • The 10 million ton loading capacity of the 3 cement sidings will have faster and cheaper connectivity of DFC, and boost related fast track infrastructure development of the region.
  • The benefit of access to this cement cluster will be to the National Capital Region (NCR), Western UP, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and help drive economic growth.
  • The Madar – New Palanpur section of the WDFC passes through the Aravalli range of mountains which contains suitable deposits of raw material for the cement industry.

About DFC projects:

  • DFCCIL has been set up as a special purpose vehicle to undertake planning, development, mobilization of financial resources, construction, maintenance and operation of Dedicated Freight Corridors.
  • In the first phase, the organisation is constructing the Western DFC (1506 Route km) and Eastern DFC (1875 route km including PPP section of Sonnagar-Dankuni Section.
  • The EDFC starting from Sahnewal near Ludhiana (Punjab) will pass through the states of 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 the states of UP, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra of WDFC & EDFC.

Project Achievements:

  • WDFC’s 306 km Rewari -Madar section was dedicated to the nation on 07.01.2021.
  • Trial run of 369 km of WDFC between New Palanpur to New Kishangarh has been done.
  • EDFC’s 351 km New Bhaupur-New Khurja section and the Operation Control Centre at Prayagraj were dedicated to the nation by the Hon’ble PM on 29.12.2020.
  • A total of approx. 2800 route Km of the whole WDFC and EDFC (excluding the Sonnagar–Dankuni PPP section) will be commissioned by June 2022.

Main objectives:

  • Decongest the existing Indian Railway network.
  • Increase the average speed of goods trains from existing 25 to 70 kmph.
  • Run Heavy Haul trains (higher axle load of 25/32.5 Tonne) & overall load of 13,000 Tonne.
  • Facilitate the running of longer (1.5km) and double stack container trains.
  • Connect the existing ports and industrial areas for faster movement of goods.
  • Energy efficient and environment friendly rail transport system as per global standards.
  • Increase the rail share from existing 30% to 45%.
  • Reduce the logistic cost of transportation

Innovations and State-of-the-art Technology:

  • Heavy and long Haul train operation of 25 Axle ton with provision of 32.5 Ton axle load for the First time in India.
  • Double stack containers in Western DFC.
  • Double line electric (2 X 25 KV) track to undertake higher haulage at higher speeds.
  • Automated New Track Construction (NTC) machine which can lay track at the speed of 1.5 km per day.
  • Automated Wiring train for Overhead Equipment Work (OHE) capable of wiring upto 3 km per shift.
  • Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS) for safe and efficient operation.
  • Elimination of road level crossing
  • Developing Multi Modal Logistic Hubs and integration with Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor & Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial corridor.

Source: DFCCIL-Update | Image Credit (representational): DFCCIL