PM Modi inaugurates New Bhaupur-New Khurja stretch of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday inaugurated the 351-km ‘New Bhaupur- New Khurja section’ in Uttar Pradesh of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor(EDFC) via video conferencing. During the event, he also inaugurated the EDFC’s Operation Control Centre (OCC) at Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.

While counting the innumerable benefits of the dedicated freight corridors, PM Modi attacked the opposition and said that the lack of investment in developing the infrastructure of the railways “shows how the previous government before us used to work”.

“The plan to develop the dedicated freight corridors have been on paper since 2006 but the work started after 2014. Zero kilometres of the corridor was constructed in eight years, while in the last six to seven years we have built 1100 Kms,” he compared.

The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor is a 1875-km stretch that connects Punjab’s Ludhiana to Dankuni in West Bengal. The project is aimed at decongesting the railway lines and to make the transportation of goods smoother without any delays. The Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath who was also present during the virtual inauguration of the project also claimed that the speed of freight trains will double from 25km/hour to 75 km/hour.

Talking about the modern and technologically advanced OCC at Prayagraj, PM Modi said that the Made in India state-of-the art structure shows the strength of new India. He added that the government has always focussed on infrastructural development for the growth of the nation. The boost in connectivity with the development of the freight corridor will also help Kisan Rail and farmers to transport their harvest on time. The OCC, which will be the command centre for the entire route, is said to be one of the largest control centres in the world.

Apart from EDFC, the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor is also being developed. The 1506 km stretch will connect Mumbai to Uttar Pradesh’s Dadri.

Adding to the list of benefits, the Prime Minister said that the dedicated corridor will reduce the logistical cost of the railways network thus influencing the price of the goods. It will also increase the ease of doing business and attract greater foreign investment, PM Modi added.

He also talked about Atmanirbhar Bharat and gave the example of Raebareily modern coach factory that has till date produced 5000 rail coaches and has now begun exporting too.