In a much-needed relief for the industrial hub of the landlocked state, the Railways is gearing up to initiate operations of goods trains on a 401km section from Sahnewal to New Khurja in Uttar Pradesh, part of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC).
The inaugural train on this route is scheduled to run on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually flagging it off while laying foundation stones and inaugurating development projects worth Rs 85,000 crore across the country.
The commencement of freight train operations on this dedicated corridor is expected to yield substantial reductions in logistics costs and transit time for containers and essential goods. The successful trial run conducted by the railways on this corridor in Oct last year has paved the way for this upcoming operational phase, said officials of the Railways.
This 401km long section passes through Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh and the entire Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) enhancing connectivity to the ports of West Bengal, they added.
Surender Kumar, nodal officer of the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL), said, “The first goods train on this section will depart from Sahnewal railway station at 8am on Tuesday when the PM inaugurates and lays foundation stone of several development project of the railway.”
‘Transit time to be reduced by upto 50%‘
Badish Jindal, president of the All Industries and Trade Forum, said, “The EDFC is likely to reduce transit time of containers by upto 50%. Due to priority to the passengers trains on railway tracks, goods trains take over 10 to 12 days to transport containers to ports. Now, they will take upto six days for the same.”
He added, “Now that we have a dedicated corridor, we are expecting Railways to reduce transportation costs.”
Gurmeet Singh Kular, president of Federation of Industrial and Commercial Organisation (Fico), said, “It will be a great push to the local industry. as it will be able to deliver goods on time and save money.”
