Western Dedicated Freight Corridor
| Western Dedicated Freight Corridor | |
|---|---|
A freight train carrying double stack containers is running on the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC). | |
| Overview | |
| Status | 1397 km - Operational 109 km - Under construction (93% Completed) |
| Owner | DFCCIL Ministry of Railways |
| Locale | Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra |
| Termini |
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| Service | |
| Type | Freight rail |
| System | DFCCIL |
| Operator(s) | Indian Railways |
| Rolling stock | WAG-9, WAG-12 |
| History | |
| Planned opening | March 2024 |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 1,506 km (936 mi) |
| Track gauge | 5 ft 6 in (1,676 mm) Indian broad gauge |
| Electrification | 25 kV 50 Hz AC overhead catenary |
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The Western Dedicated Freight Corridor or Western DFC is a 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) freight corridor in India stretching 1,506 km, currently under construction. It will run between Dadri in Uttar Pradesh (near Delhi) and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Navi Mumbai, Raigad District, Maharashtra. The corridor is being developed by the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL), a public-sector undertaking (PSU) under the Ministry of Railways, and will feature double-line electrified operation. The Western DFC also includes a new single-line branch connecting Prithla in Palwal district to Tughlakabad in Delhi, running parallel to the existing New Delhi–Faridabad–Palwal railway line.
The Western DFC is dedicated exclusively to freight, operating at higher speeds and with greater load-carrying capacity than conventional lines. The primary commodities it will carry include fertilizers, food grains, salt, coal, iron, steel, and cement. It uses Flash Butt Welded head-hardened (HH) rails in 250 m lengths, with an axle load capacity of 25 t on tracks and 32.5 t on bridges — an improvement over the 22.9 t to 25 t axle loads used on existing Indian Railways tracks. The line will accommodate freight trains up to 1,500 m (4,900 ft) long, hauled by high-power WAG-12 electric locomotives at speeds exceeding 100 km/h (62 mph). The tracks will be fully grade-separated and feature a generous loading gauge of 3,660 mm (12 ft 1⁄8 in) in width and 7,100 mm (23 ft 3+1⁄2 in) in maximum height, enabling double-stacked shipping containers to be carried on flatcars — unlike in most other countries, where well cars are required for double-stack rail transport. This allows a single train to carry up to 400 containers. Trains will also be equipped with radio communications and GSM-based tracking — a first for the Indian railway sector.
The Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (Eastern DFC) includes a 46 km branch line connecting Khurja in Bulandshahr district on the Eastern DFC with Dadri in Gautam Buddha Nagar district on the Western DFC.
Meerut has been proposed as the largest logistics hub on the Eastern DFC, owing to its strong connectivity via several expressways. Together with the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway, the Western DFC will form a key backbone of the Delhi–Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC). The Western DFC will intersect the Delhi–Mumbai Expressway at two points in Haryana: Sancholi village in Gurgaon district, and Paroli village in Palwal district.