W Dedicated Freight Corridor targets December 2025 for completion

The 1506 kilometre (km) Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) is poised for completion by December 2025. According to official data, 96.4% of the entire freight corridor is currently operational. A statement from the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) said, 93.2% of the WDFC is complete with feeder routes serving various cement plants and the large ports of Mundra, Kandla, Pipavav, and Hazira in Gujarat.

WDFC connecting Khurja to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (Maharashtra) is estimated to cost Rs 72,000 crore when complete.

"Just 100 kms of the WDFC is left for completion," R K Jain, Managing Director at DFCCIL told journalists on Friday while adding that he is hopeful of finishing the corridor by December 2025.

With this, the total cost of DFC has touched Rs 1.24 lakh crore, significantly higher than the Rs 82,000 crore initial sanctioned cost. Responding to a query on the inflated cost, the senior DFCCIL official had said the land acquisition cost alone has risen to Rs 20,000 crore, up from initial estimates of Rs 8,000 crore.

According to official estimates, the coal transit time from the coalfields of Eastern India to the power plants of Northern India has been reduced by 30-40% with the operationalization of Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor. This is leading to a significant reduction in the inventory costs of power plants.

“With the running of trains over WDFC, the freight transit time between the ports of Western India and North India has been reduced by almost 50%,” the statement said while highlighting the successful transportation of perishable commodity (milk) in a much reduced time from the dairies of Gujarat to the National Capital Region (NCR).