Freight corridors will change the way India transports goods
India is all set to get its first publicly owned freight corridors on August 15. According to the Make-in-India report of 2017, three million tonnes of freight is transported through rail tracks daily. Moving freight by rail is cheaper and more eco-friendly than sending it by road. If you are wondering what are freight corridors and how Indian Railways is working on it, here is all you need to know. The corridors: Indian Railways is building two world-class freight corridors — Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor and Western Dedicated Freight Corridor. What are dedicated freight corridors? These are freight-only railway lines to move goods between industrial heartlands in the North and ports on the Eastern and Western coasts. Route: The dedicated freight-only lines are being built along the four key transportation routes – known as the Golden Quadrilateral and connecting Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Howrah and its two diagonals (Delhi – Chennai and Mumbai – Howrah). Covering a total of 10,122 km, these corridors carry the heaviest traffic and are highly congested. The route carries 52 per cent of passenger traffic and 58 per cent of freight traffic, according to the Make-in-India report of 2017. What is the need of Dedicated Freight corridors? The two above-mentioned routes are highly saturated, with line capacity utilisation reaching as high as 150 per cent. Considering increased transport demands, overtly congested routes and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with road transport, the government had proposed this initiative. These freight corridors will help reduce the cost and allow faster transportation. Along with that, Indian Railways will open new avenues for investment, as this will lead to the construction of industrial corridors and logistic parks along these routes.
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