The first freight train consisting of 50 wagons of high speed diesel was run on the newly constructed New Palanpur-Madar section of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) on Wednesday. The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) said this heralds a new chapter for industries in Rajasthan and Haryana which would reap the benefits of faster transport of goods and essentials.
The opening of this stretch will mean better connectivity to the ports of Gujarat,
with the Pipavav, Kandla, Mundra and the Hazira ports connecting to north and northeast India faster, the DFCCIL said in a statement.
This section falls between Rajasthan (approximately 333 km in Sirohi, Pali and Ajmer districts) and Gujarat (19 km in BanasKantha district). It has 98 major bridges and viaducts (12 viaducts/important bridges and 86 major bridges), 531 minor bridges, two rail flyovers, 14 road over bridges and 136 road under bridges, the DFCCIL said.
Industries
in Swaroopganj, Banas, Keshavganj, Bangurgram, Beawar, Kishangarh, Phulera, Rewari-Manesar and Narnaul are likely to benefit from this, it said.
In addition to this, the container depot of CONCOR at Swaroopganj, Kathwas will also come on the DFC map and get advantage in terms of faster throughput, the statement said.
The DFCCIL will run freight trains at a maximum speed of 100 km/hour as against the current maximum speed of 75 km/hour on Indian Railway tracks, whereas the
average speed of freight trains will also be increased from the existing 26 km/hour on Indian Railway lines to 70 km/hour on Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC), it said.
Source : Economic Times