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• The railways has been working hard to complete its dream project -- Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFCs) -- on priority basis. The deadline set for completing the dedicated freight corridors is March 2017 now. The PMO is keeping a tab on the development work being carried out on the DFC route. It is believed that the PMO has directed the states concerned to accord top priority to the DFCs and help the railways acquire land without further loss of time.
• According to a Railway Board official, about 67 per cent of the land acquisition has been completed through the Railway Amendment Act, 2008, in most of the states, including Bihar. The freight corridors -- east and west -- would open a new chapter in the railways for 'goods trains' movement as goods trains will run faster on these two separate routes, he said. According to sources, the railways has already started civil work of the DFC on the eastern region. The railways has awarded contracts to an agency to carry out the civil work on the Mughalsarai-Sonenagar route. The project will be completed at an estimated cost of Rs 12,000 crore on the eastern region. The DFC of the eastern region linking Dankuni in West Bengal to Ludhiana in Punjab will benefit business community people, sources said.
• The eastern freight corridor project, which was inaugurated by AICC Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi at Dehri-on-Sone in February, 2009, is likely to give a boost to railway economy covering a distance up to about 1,839 km. The railways intends to lay 80 percent of the new alignments (tracks) of the DFC all along the Grand Chord tracks, sources said, adding about two-third of this corridor passing through West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab is being built with the World Bank assistance.
• According to the official, PM Manmohan Singh has been personally monitoring this project. The Sonenagar- Dankuni section will be executed on public-private partnership mode. Goods traffic has been the mainstay of the Indian Railways yielding about 80 per cent revenue from freight traffic. Thus, the DFC will be a gift to the business men belonging to West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and Punjab as their goods would be carried to destination points without any interruption or halt midway, he said.
• According to sources, materials like iron, coal, cement and other minerals are being sent from Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal to other parts of the country. These states are the major recipients of other products from Punjab and Haryana to cater to the needs of both businessmen and common people. Completion of this project by March, 2017, would give a fillip to the railway economy which could yield an increase further as far as railway revenue is concerned, sources said.

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