2000-km freight corridor in two years: Bansal

Railways minister Pawan Kumar Bansal has set an ambitious target of building 2,000km of dedicated freight corridor (DFC) tracks over the next two years. Srinand Jha reports.

Railways minister Pawan Kumar Bansal has set an ambitious target of building 2,000km of dedicated freight corridor (DFC) tracks over the next two years.

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A 66-km DFC track of this ambitious project – from Sonnagar to Mughalsarai – is also planned to be made operational by December.

Bansal is likely to announce these plans in his upcoming budget speech later this month Implementation plans on this prestigious project – which is being monitored by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh – are being fast-tracked.

Following last month’s award of a Rs. 3,300-crore contract for building DFC lines on the 340-km stretch (from Kanpur to Khurja), the railways have readied plans to award work for the construction of another 640-km track from Rewari to Palanpur (western corridor) at an estimated cost of Rs.6,000 crores.

Three Japanese firms are vying for this major contract, which is likely to be awarded before the railway budget.

These include the Mitsui and the Sujitsu.

By July, additional contracts worth Rs.8,000 crore are scheduled to be awarded for building tracks on two sections.

There is the Palanpur-Baroda section on the western corridor at a cost of Rs.3,000 crore.