Dedicated Freight Corridor Project : Indian Railways

[Ashwin]

Dedicated Freight Corridor To Be Complete By 2019: Indian Railways

New Delhi: The Indian Railways today said that the work on the dedicated freight corridor will be completed by the end of 2019, which will result in enhanced profits and punctuality.

"The work on the dedicated freight corridor is on fast track and it is expected to be complete by December 2019," Railway Board Chairman A.K. Mital said while speaking at the Economic Editors' Conference 2016.

"Once the dedicated freight corridor work is complete, it shall prove to be a 'game changer' for the railways."

He told the conference that Ministry of Railways has finalised contracts worth Rs. 35,000 crore for the dedicated freight corridor.

On punctuality enhancement, Mr Mital predicted that By 2020, the punctuality rate will reach 95 per cent. Currently, only 80 per cent of trains in India run on time.

Emphasising the need to increase the speed of the trains, he said: "After launching the Gatimaan Express earlier this year, we are also working to enhance the speed of all Express trains on the Diamond Quadrilateral High Speed Rail Network."

"Feasibility studies of Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Kolkata and Mumbai-Chennai are underway."

Currently, the average speed of freight trains in India is about 25 km per hour, while that of average Express train is in the range of 50-55 km per hour.

"After the completion of the work on these tracks the average speed of the Express trains would go up to 75 kmph, with maximum speed of 100 kmph, while the average speed of the goods train would improve to 50 kmph," the Railway Board Chairman said.

Mr Mital elaborated that the railways, which spends about Rs. 30,000 crore per year on its energy requirements, will try and bring this cost down by 10 per cent.

"Every year, we spend Rs. 30,000 crore on energy expenses, and now we are trying to make savings on the energy bill, we are targetting to reduce the energy bill by 10 per cent currently (not on diesel part but on electricity part)," Mr Mital said.

"We have asked all the states to give us NOCs to procure cheaper power from wherever it is available in the states."

The Indian Railways spends about Rs. 18,000 crore on diesel, and Rs. 12,000 crore on electricity bill.

Emphasising the projects undertaken by the railways in the northeastern states, Mr Mital said: "By the end of this fiscal year (2016-17), all the metre guage tracks will be converted to broad guage in the northeastern states."

"By 2020, we would connect all the northeastern states' capital cities with railways."

He said that railway tracks will become human waste free from 2019 and that unmanned railway crossings will be eliminated in the next four to five years.

Mr Mital pointed out that lack of investment in infrastructure erection had stalled railway's modernisation.

"In the last few decades, we didn't invest much in the railways, due to which the modernisation of infrastructure and upgradation of the railway tracks didn't take place," he said.

"But now there has been a paradigm shift," Mr Mittal said, and added that extra budgetary resources such as loans and bonds have been utilised for infrastructure creation.

On an annual basis, the Indian Railways ferry about 800 crore passengers and three lakh metric tonnes of freight.

Dedicated Freight Corridor To Be Complete By 2019: Indian Railways

 

[Ashwin]

 

[Ashwin]

Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor: First phase by August 2018

Aligarh, Dec 14 : In order to speed up goods traffic and ease the burden on existing rail tracks between Howrah and New Delhi, the work on the first phase of the 1,856-km Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor that runs through six states will be completed by August 2018, officials said.

"The first phase of the work on the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor will be completed by August 2018," Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation (DFCC) Managing Director Anshuman Sharma told IANS during a visit to Aligarh to view the progress of the work on the 345-km-long stretch of the corridor between Kanpur and Khurja.

He said that 300 km of track work has been completed on the stretch, adding that, thereafter, work on the Kanpur-Mughalsarai 402 km second phase will be completed by December 2019.

The corrdior, being laid at a cost of Rs 30,358 crore (about $5 billion) and scheduled for completion by 2020, will eventually run from Ludhiana in Punjab and, after passing through Haryana, will be joined by a spur from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh -- the closest point to national capital New Delhi -- before proceeding through Bihar and Jharkhand and terminating at Dankui in West Bengal. Its longest stretch of 1,058 km will be in Uttar Pradesh.

Earthwork is also under way on the Ludhiana-Khurja section to first flatten the ground and then compact it before the rails are laid.

Sharma said that the DFCC is, for the first time, using most advanced machines for completing the work on time.

"For the first time we are using the New Track Construction (NTC) machines which can lay around 1.5 km railway tracks in a day," Sharma said.

Earlier around 60-70 persons were required for laying 1.5 km of track and that too in around 15-20 days.

"About 60-70 people could lay only 200-300 metres of track in a day, but through this specially designed machine we can lay around 1.5 km of tracks a day," he said.

"Only 10-12 people are required to work on the highly mechanised machine," he said, adding this makes for greater accuracy and efficiency.

Thanks to the NTC machine, it is now possible to lay rails of 260 metres -- 12 metre sections welded together -- instead of the current practice of 12 metre rails with plates, nuts and bolts.

"The rails are welded with the flash-butt method, also on an imported machine," Sharma said.

Three NTC machines have been imported from the United States and each machine cost around Rs 40 crore each. For the Kanpur-Khurja section, the machines have been imported by Tata Projects Ltd., a joint venture between Tatas and the Spanish firm Aldesa and to whom the work has been contracted.

Talking about the other work on the corridor, Sharma said: "A total of 77 major bridges and 1,107 minor bridges have been completed by November 2017 and work on 125 major bridges and 352 minor bridges is in progress."

"We have also completed a 3.06-km-long bridge on the Sone river in Bihar," he added.

The DFCC MD also said that once the corridor is operational, train speeds will also increase.

"Currently the average speed of a goods train is about 25 kmph. Once the construction is complete, the speeds will increase up to 65-70 kmph," he said, adding that the maximum speed could also be increased to 100 kmph.

"Beside increasing the speed, the corridor will also have a Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS) for safety," he said.

The Eastern Corridor, as also the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor that is simultaneously being developed, will also help speed up passenger trains on the Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata golden quadrilateral as they will absorb about 70 per cent of the existing freight traffic on the two routes.

"The average speed of passenger trains on Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah corridors will increase by 25 kmph. The railways plan to operate trains at speeds of 160 kmph on the two most saturated corridors in the country," Sharma said.

According to railway officials, the Delhi-Mumbai corridor is operating at 115 per cent capacity and the Delhi-Howrah corridor at 150 per cent capacity.

Talking about the delay in the project, which was approved in 2005, Sharma said, "The work was delayed due to arbitration cases filed by the farmers over compensation issues in different courts. But we have been able to sort out such problems."

(Anand Singh visited the project site of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor on the Railway Ministry's invitation. He can be contacted at [email protected])

Aligarh, Dec 14 : In order to speed up goods traffic and ease the burden on existing rail tracks between Howrah and New Delhi, the work on the first phase of the 1,856-km Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor that runs through six states will be completed by August 2018, officials said.

"The first phase of the work on the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor will be completed by August 2018," Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation (DFCC) Managing Director Anshuman Sharma told IANS during a visit to Aligarh to view the progress of the work on the 345-km-long stretch of the corridor between Kanpur and Khurja.

He said that 300 km of track work has been completed on the stretch, adding that, thereafter, work on the Kanpur-Mughalsarai 402 km second phase will be completed by December 2019.

The corrdior, being laid at a cost of Rs 30,358 crore (about $5 billion) and scheduled for completion by 2020, will eventually run from Ludhiana in Punjab and, after passing through Haryana, will be joined by a spur from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh -- the closest point to national capital New Delhi -- before proceeding through Bihar and Jharkhand and terminating at Dankui in West Bengal. Its longest stretch of 1,058 km will be in Uttar Pradesh.

Earthwork is also under way on the Ludhiana-Khurja section to first flatten the ground and then compact it before the rails are laid.

Sharma said that the DFCC is, for the first time, using most advanced machines for completing the work on time.

"For the first time we are using the New Track Construction (NTC) machines which can lay around 1.5 km railway tracks in a day," Sharma said.

Earlier around 60-70 persons were required for laying 1.5 km of track and that too in around 15-20 days.

"About 60-70 people could lay only 200-300 metres of track in a day, but through this specially designed machine we can lay around 1.5 km of tracks a day," he said.

"Only 10-12 people are required to work on the highly mechanised machine," he said, adding this makes for greater accuracy and efficiency.

Thanks to the NTC machine, it is now possible to lay rails of 260 metres -- 12 metre sections welded together -- instead of the current practice of 12 metre rails with plates, nuts and bolts.

"The rails are welded with the flash-butt method, also on an imported machine," Sharma said.

Three NTC machines have been imported from the United States and each machine cost around Rs 40 crore each. For the Kanpur-Khurja section, the machines have been imported by Tata Projects Ltd., a joint venture between Tatas and the Spanish firm Aldesa and to whom the work has been contracted.

Talking about the other work on the corridor, Sharma said: "A total of 77 major bridges and 1,107 minor bridges have been completed by November 2017 and work on 125 major bridges and 352 minor bridges is in progress."

"We have also completed a 3.06-km-long bridge on the Sone river in Bihar," he added.

The DFCC MD also said that once the corridor is operational, train speeds will also increase.

"Currently the average speed of a goods train is about 25 kmph. Once the construction is complete, the speeds will increase up to 65-70 kmph," he said, adding that the maximum speed could also be increased to 100 kmph.

"Beside increasing the speed, the corridor will also have a Train Protection and Warning System (TPWS) for safety," he said.

The Eastern Corridor, as also the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor that is simultaneously being developed, will also help speed up passenger trains on the Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata golden quadrilateral as they will absorb about 70 per cent of the existing freight traffic on the two routes.

"The average speed of passenger trains on Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah corridors will increase by 25 kmph. The railways plan to operate trains at speeds of 160 kmph on the two most saturated corridors in the country," Sharma said.

According to railway officials, the Delhi-Mumbai corridor is operating at 115 per cent capacity and the Delhi-Howrah corridor at 150 per cent capacity.

Talking about the delay in the project, which was approved in 2005, Sharma said, "The work was delayed due to arbitration cases filed by the farmers over compensation issues in different courts. But we have been able to sort out such problems."

(Anand Singh visited the project site of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor on the Railway Ministry's invitation. He can be contacted at [email protected])

Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor: First phase by August 2018 - newkerala news #299793

 

[Ashwin]

 

[nair]

This is really a good news....

 

[ni8mare]

 

[Ashwin]

 

[ni8mare]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10155257469357694

 

[ni8mare]

https://twitter.com/x/status/972443758947074048

Alstom completes most powerful all-electric “Make-In-India” locomotive from Madhepura and announces contract wins worth €75 million in India
10/03/2018

Alstom announced the completion of its first all-electric locomotive from its state-of-the-art locomotive facility at Madhepura in the State of Bihar [1], on schedule. In line with the Government’s and Indian Railways’ target towards 100% electrification and towards sustainable mobility, these new locomotives will not only bring down operating costs for the Railways but will significantly cut down greenhouse gas emissions as well.

This first locomotive is part of a €3.5 billion order comprising 800 electric double-section locomotives signed in 2015 which contributes to the Ministry of Railways’ public-private partnership programme to modernise the country’s rail infrastructure. This agreement remains the largest Foreign Direct Investment in the railways sector to date and has a strategic role in creating a multiplier effect on the economy. This contract is also one of the biggest contracts in the history of Alstom.

“Our operations in India are paramount to our business globally and we continue to stay committed to developing India’s infrastructure needs, improving the quality of services to citizens and investing in the nation’s economy,” said Henri-Poupart Lafarge, Chairman and CEO, Alstom.

Further commenting on the completion of the first electric locomotive, he added, “This project stands as a shining example of Alstom’s commitment to ‘Make in India’. Apart from creating thousands of jobs directly and indirectly, we have created a strong localised supply chain for this project, with 90% of the components for the prototype sourced locally.”

Thanks to its 12,000 horsepower, each double section locomotive, part of Alstom’s Prima locomotives family, has a hauling capacity of 6,000 tonnes and speed of 120km/hr, allowing faster and safer movement of heavier freight trains across the country, thereby reducing congestion for passenger train services and freight. Equipped with IGBT based propulsion technology [2], these locomotives will be compliant with Indian standards of freight transport and will have the ability to endure tough Indian climate and conditions. The locomotives were developed with the support of 6 Alstom sites in France: Belfort for the 6 first car bodyshells, and Ornans for the motors, Tarbes for the traction, Le Creusot for bogies, Villeurbanne for the train control monitoring systems and Saint-Ouen for the design.

In another significant development, Alstom announced three new contracts worth approximately €75 million - power supply contract from the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL), contract for new train sets from Chennai Metro Rail Corporation and another power supply contract from Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation. This development shows Alstom’s growing footprint in the country, in both the urban space as well as the mainline space.

Additionally, phase 1 in the construction of the electric locomotive facility at Madhepura and the depot at Saharanpur is complete and work is progressing as per the contractual timelines. To give skilling and local hiring an impetus, focused efforts towards nurturing young minds in communities in and around Madhepura have been initiated. With the help of local NGOs, Alstom Foundation is working to foster better health care, education and dignified livelihood in the area.





[1] The facility is a Joint-Venture between Alstom (74%) and Indian Railways (26%)

[2] An insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) is a three-terminal power semiconductor device primarily used as an electronic switch which combines high efficiency and fast switching.

 

[Itachi]

Any updates on the construction of freight corridor in SI ?

 

[Bali78]

Any updates on the construction of freight corridor in SI ?

 

[Itachi]

View attachment 2023

The only funds released to the project is a about 480 million $ loan from ADB and 1600 cr from AP in the present budget. While DMIC has 49% stake of centre and 51% from financial institutions. Any more proof you guys need about how SI is getting discriminated ?

@Notsuperstitious My point is justified even here, for the contribution that MH makes to India it gets back enough projects from centre to make it more prosperous. While that is not the case of SI.

 

[Notsuperstitious]

View attachment 2040
The only funds released to the project is a about 480 million $ loan from ADB and 1600 cr from AP in the present budget. While DMIC has 49% stake of centre and 51% from financial institutions. Any more proof you guys need about how SI is getting discriminated ?

@Notsuperstitious My point is justified even here, for the contribution that MH makes to India it gets back enough projects from centre to make it more prosperous. While that is not the case of SI.

Yaar please, dont believe any rubbish some propaganda source publishes.

Please provide me authentic source. I am not going to spoon feed you. But please dont make my blood boil by posting some graphic made by some SOB.

Hint - 700000 crores (specifically 100 Bn USD) is the total target investment to be attracted, almost entirely from private sector and Japan. This is over decades.

Maharashtas share is expected to be 15%.

The project is a Japanese initiative to create a counter to China and Japanese manufacturing dependence. They have chosen the geography accordingly.

 

[ni8mare]

 

[Ashwin]

Trial run at 100km/per hour on DFC track

 

[ni8mare]

 

[ni8mare]

 

[ni8mare]

 

[Ashwin]

Behind schedule: Rethink on four planned dedicated freight corridors

While the construction of two dedicated freight corridors (DFCs) — Eastern and Western — seems to be on track, the other four projects are running way behind schedule and could even be abandoned. Indian Railways is exploring options other than DFCs, like high-speed passenger corridors and capacity augmentation of existing lines, to tackle the most niggling issue of congestion on tracks, especially on the Golden Quadrilateral.

According to two railway ministry officials, there is an intense debate within the ministry on prioritising one of the alternatives. And it seems DFCs are losing the argument. “The question of taking up future DFCs came up with the NITI Aayog also in the loop. A view has emerged that if DFCs are going to take seven-eight years for completion, what would happen to the congestion in the existing lines? So it would be a much better option to go for a third line in certain sections, augmentation of some or quadrupling, which can be done in three-four years,” said one of the officials.

Another official said that though the idea of the other four DFCs has not been scrapped yet, other solutions are being examined and a view has to be taken by the railways. Apart from the Eastern DFC (Ludhiana-Dankuni; 1,856 km) and Western DFC (Dadri-Jawaharlal Nehru Port, 1,504 km), the railways had announced plans for an East-West DFC (Kolkata-Mumbai; 2,330 km), North-South DFC (Delhi-Chennai; 2,343 km), East Coast DFC (Kharagpur-Vijaywada; 1,100 km) and the Southern DFC (Chennai-Goa; 899 km). These lines cover the Golden Quadrilateral network connecting the four metro cities, which at present is utilised over 100%.

Though this network accounts for only 20% of the tracks across the country, 55% of the traffic moves on it. A trial run was successfully conducted on the first section of the DFC between Ateli and Phulera (192 km) on the Western DFC on March 27, 2018. However, the Bhaupur-Khurja (340 km) stretch on the Eastern DFC, funded by the World Bank, will be the first to be commissioned in December 2018. It will be followed by the Rewari-Marwar (452 km) stretch on the Western DFC, funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency, in February, 2019, as reported by FE.

Railways arm RITES had prepared a detailed project reports along with financial viability for all the four DFCs, which were submitted to Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) — a special purpose vehicle of the railways which has been entrusted with the job to develop DFCs in the country —and were accepted by the ministry of railways.

“Out of these, the financial viability of the Chennai-Goa DFC seemed unviable and the alignment was also passing through very difficult terrain. So it was dropped long back. In the Kolkata-Mumbai and Delhi-Chennai stretches, there have been huge amounts of small works being sanctioned for capacity augmentation. However, the East Coast is most likely to be taken up,” said the first official quoted above.

Apart from the capacity augmentation that is underway, the ministry is also undertaking a study for a high-speed passenger network of around 10,000 km of the Golden Quadrilateral. The second official quoted above said funds are a constraint and not all projects can be executed simultaneously.

 

[Bali78]

Behind schedule: Rethink on four planned dedicated freight corridors

While the construction of two dedicated freight corridors (DFCs) — Eastern and Western — seems to be on track, the other four projects are running way behind schedule and could even be abandoned. Indian Railways is exploring options other than DFCs, like high-speed passenger corridors and capacity augmentation of existing lines, to tackle the most niggling issue of congestion on tracks, especially on the Golden Quadrilateral.

According to two railway ministry officials, there is an intense debate within the ministry on prioritising one of the alternatives. And it seems DFCs are losing the argument. “The question of taking up future DFCs came up with the NITI Aayog also in the loop. A view has emerged that if DFCs are going to take seven-eight years for completion, what would happen to the congestion in the existing lines? So it would be a much better option to go for a third line in certain sections, augmentation of some or quadrupling, which can be done in three-four years,” said one of the officials.

Another official said that though the idea of the other four DFCs has not been scrapped yet, other solutions are being examined and a view has to be taken by the railways. Apart from the Eastern DFC (Ludhiana-Dankuni; 1,856 km) and Western DFC (Dadri-Jawaharlal Nehru Port, 1,504 km), the railways had announced plans for an East-West DFC (Kolkata-Mumbai; 2,330 km), North-South DFC (Delhi-Chennai; 2,343 km), East Coast DFC (Kharagpur-Vijaywada; 1,100 km) and the Southern DFC (Chennai-Goa; 899 km). These lines cover the Golden Quadrilateral network connecting the four metro cities, which at present is utilised over 100%.

Though this network accounts for only 20% of the tracks across the country, 55% of the traffic moves on it. A trial run was successfully conducted on the first section of the DFC between Ateli and Phulera (192 km) on the Western DFC on March 27, 2018. However, the Bhaupur-Khurja (340 km) stretch on the Eastern DFC, funded by the World Bank, will be the first to be commissioned in December 2018. It will be followed by the Rewari-Marwar (452 km) stretch on the Western DFC, funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency, in February, 2019, as reported by FE.

Railways arm RITES had prepared a detailed project reports along with financial viability for all the four DFCs, which were submitted to Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) — a special purpose vehicle of the railways which has been entrusted with the job to develop DFCs in the country —and were accepted by the ministry of railways.

“Out of these, the financial viability of the Chennai-Goa DFC seemed unviable and the alignment was also passing through very difficult terrain. So it was dropped long back. In the Kolkata-Mumbai and Delhi-Chennai stretches, there have been huge amounts of small works being sanctioned for capacity augmentation. However, the East Coast is most likely to be taken up,” said the first official quoted above.

Apart from the capacity augmentation that is underway, the ministry is also undertaking a study for a high-speed passenger network of around 10,000 km of the Golden Quadrilateral. The second official quoted above said funds are a constraint and not all projects can be executed simultaneously.

Sensible argument. Looks like after decades of rot, Indian Railways has finally woke up to provide optimum passenger and freight transportation solutions within fastest possible timeframe while judiciously utilizing the available resources !!