Western Dedicated Freight Corridor: Trial Run Begins In New Palanpur-New Mahesana Section, Close To 700 km In WDFC Operational

The trial run of the 62 km New Palanpur-New Mahesana section of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor has started with a freight train moving on the newly created route.

Starting from Changsari, Rangiya Division of Northeast Frontier Railway (NF Railway), the freight train with 27 wagons carrying a load of 1000 tons will reach Detroj in Western Railway’s Ahmedabad Division.

DFCC has to eliminate 33 level crossings to complete the section, and with the completion of this route, safety is set to get a boost.

With the double line section opening, Pipavav Port in Gujarat will have faster connectivity with other parts of the country.

The section falls in Gujarat. It passes through Bhandu and Palanpur districts and is a part of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC).

The section consists of two important bridges, 10 major bridges, 16 road over bridges (ROB), 81 minor bridges, 22 minor road under bridges, seven pedestrian subways and one foot overbridge (FOB).

The bridge structures are equipped for carrying the 32.5-ton axle load of a freight train.

There are three stations in the section - New Palanpur, New Umardashi and New Mahesana. New Palanpur and New Mahesana stations are junction stations.

Train operations are already operational on WDFC’s 659 route km stretch from Rewari to Palanpur.

The WDFC will connect JNPT (Mumbai) to Dadri (in the National capital Region).

Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC)

The WDFC connecting Dadri in Uttar Pradesh (UP) to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) in Mumbai passes through five states of UP, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra.

The western corridor covers a distance of 1,504 km through double line electric (2 X 25 KV) track from JNPT to Dadri via Vadodara-Ahmedabad-Palanpur-Phulera-Rewari. The Western DFC is proposed to join the Eastern DFC at Dadri.

Western DFC would mainly cover Rajasthan (565 km), Maharashtra (177 km), Gujarat (565 km), Haryana (177 km) and about 18 km in Uttar Pradesh.

Alignment has been generally kept parallel to existing lines except for detour at Diva, Surat, Ankleshwar, Bharuch, Vadodara, Anand, Ahmedabad, Palanpur, Phulera and Rewari. However, it is entirely on a new alignment from Rewari to Dadri.

The western corridor will cater mainly to ISO or intermodal containers from JNPT and Mumbai port in Maharashtra and ports of Pipavav, Mundra and Kandla in Gujarat destined for inland container depots (ICDs) located in northern India, especially at Tughlakabad and Dadri. Besides containers, other commodities moving on the western DFC are POL, fertiliser, food grains, salt, coal, iron, steel, and cement.

The WDFC has been divided into three sections: Rewari-Palanpur; Palanpur-Makarpura; Makarpura-JNPT and the inter-connecting link to EDFC from Dadri to Rewari.

In the WDFC, a total of 659 km line has been commissioned, with about 65 trains running in the section. This includes the 306 km long Rewari-Madar section and Madar-Palanpur section with a length of 353 km.

The subsequent sections are up to Makarpura in Gujarat (to be done by March 2022), and finally to JNPT (June 2022).