The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) is all set to transform the landscape of freight transportation in the country. A successful trial on the New Pilkhani-New Shambhu section of the corridor has taken place, informed Ministry of Railways, on Tuesday.
“With the successful trial on the New Pilkhani-New Shambhu section of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC), commercial freight train operations begin on the Pilkhani-Sahnewal section,” said the ministry on social media platform X.
The ministry also shared a 20-second video clip of the freight train passing the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor. At the time of writing this article, the brief footage garnered 37k views.
Interestingly, recently, during the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit (2024), Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned about the EDFC and said that regions like Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Eastern Coast Line are being linked via dedicated freight corridors.
“Be it Gujarat, Maharashtra, or our Eastern Coast Line, today they are being connected through dedicated freight corridors,” PM Modi had said.
About dedicated freight corridors
In the country, the dedicated freight corridors are a network of broad gauge freight railway lines that exclusively serve freight trains. These will make the freight service in the country swifter and more efficient.
Presently, the government is concentrating on two Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs):
a) Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) – Ludhiana to Sonnagar. Its length is 1337 km.
b) Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) – Jawaharlal Nehru Port Terminal (JNPT) to Dadri. Its length is 1506 km.
Construction status of corridors
The construction of the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor is over. Construction work on the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor is going on. 1176 km out of 1506 km is done.