Goods trains in for better times

The eastern and western freight corridors were cleared by the CCEA in Nov '07 and are likely to be completed in 5 years from the start of work.

Construction work on the ambitious eastern and western freight corridors, which would cover a combined distance of 2,743 km along the Golden Quadrilateral, will start in the coming fiscal.

"The works of eastern freight corridor from Ludhiana to Dankuni, situated near Kolkata, and the western corridor from Delhi to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) (in Navi Mumbai), have been sanctioned. I would like to assure the House that construction work on both these projects will commence in 2008-09," Railway Minister Lalu Prasad said in his budget statement.

Both the freight corridors were given in-principle clearance by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in November 2007 and are likely to be completed in five years from the start of construction.

The total cost of the two corridors has been estimated at Rs 28,030 crore. A special purpose vehicle (SPV), Dedicated Freight Corridor India Ltd, has been set up to oversee the projects under the freight corridors.

Budget allocation for the freight corridors for 2008-09 has been kept at Rs 1,300 crore. The allocation for 2007-08 was Rs 1,330 crore, of which only Rs 86 crore was spent, mainly on surveys.

Prasad also announced that the feasibility study on the dedicated freight corridors, which were announced in 2007-08 Railway Budget, would be expedited to facilitate their construction in the coming fiscal.

The dedicated freight corridors, when completed, is likely to reduce the pressure on about 20,000 km of the railways' high-density network, coal and iron-ore routes and port-connectivity railway lines that have become saturated. These routes carry 75 per cent of the railway goods traffic.

Development of these corridors is part of a Rs 75,000-crore plan to enhance line capacity, spread across a period of the next seven years, creating 310 million tonnes of additional capacity.

"Route-wise works will be undertaken in a phased manner, including 124 works of creating extra lines, bye-passes, flyovers, crossing stations, intermediate block stations, automatic signalling works and yard re-modelling. This also includes construction of the eastern and western corridors," Prasad added.

Allaying concerns on land acquisition for the projects, the railway minister said: "The process of land acquisition for railway projects through the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, is extremely time consuming. Therefore, the Railways Act, 1989, has been amended through an ordinance for expeditious acquisition of land for important railway projects on the pattern of the NHAI Act."

Under the amended provisions, land for notified special railway projects will be acquired by an authority, which would be appointed by the Railway.

Under the freight corridor project, 5,270 hectares of land is to be acquired for the western corridor, while 3,563 hectares of land is to be acquired for the eastern corridor.