Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor

Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor
A WAG-12 locomotive on the Eastern DFC
Overview
StatusFully operational
OwnerDFCCIL
LocalePunjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal
Termini
Service
TypeFreight rail
SystemDFCCIL
Operator(s)Indian Railways
History
Planned openingJune 2023; 15 months ago (June 2023)[1]
CompletedFebruary 2024 (February 2024)
Technical
Line length1,839 km (1,143 mi)
Track gauge5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) Indian broad gauge
Electrification25 kV 50 Hz AC overhead catenary
Route map

Ludhiana
Dhandharikalan
Sirhind
Rajpura
Ambala
Yamunanagar
Kalanaur
Saharanpur
Muzaffarnagar
Meerut
Hapur
Bulandshahr
Khurja
Dadri
Aligarh
Hathras
Barhan
Tundla
Etawah
Bhaupur
for Kanpur
Manauri
for Allahabad
Chheoki/Karchhana
for Allahabad
Jeonathpur
for Varanasi
Mughalsarai
Ganjkhwaja
Dehri-on-Sone
Son Nagar
Gomoh
Andal
Dankuni

Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor or Eastern DFC is a broad gauge freight corridor in India. The railway line runs between Ludhiana in Punjab and Dankuni (near Kolkata) in West Bengal via Meerut and Khurja in Uttar Pradesh.[2] This railway line is one of the multiple freight corridors being constructed by the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL), a public-sector unit (PSU) under the Ministry of Railways.

Logistic Hub and Network

A large Logisitic Hub is proposed in Meerut, which is well connected to EDFC and several expressways.

The Eastern DFC will mostly have double tracks and will be electrified, but the section from Ludhiana to Khurja (365 km) will be single line electrified due to lack of space. This freight corridor will cover a total distance of 1,839 km. This corridor is having a 46 km branch line which is joining Khurja (Bulandshahr district) on the Eastern DFC with Dadri (Gautam Buddha Nagar district) on the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (Western DFC).

As of August 2023, 1150 km or 86% of the Eastern DFC has been completed and 99% required land for these have been acquired.[3] First two DFCs, Western DFC, from Dadri, Uttar Pradesh to JNPT (Navi Mumbai) and Eastern DFC from Punjab to West Bengal, which will decongest the railway network by moving 70% of India's goods trains to these two corridors.

  1. ^ "Completion targets on India's DFCs likely to be extended". International Railway Journal. 22 April 2022. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
  2. ^ "DFCCIL". dfccil.com. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  3. ^ Gupta, Moushumi Das (19 September 2023). "Railways' massive Dedicated Freight Corridor nears completion 2 decades later — why it's a big deal". ThePrint. Retrieved 8 October 2023.