ON THE FAST TRACK

THE DEDICATED FREIGHT CORRIDORS (DFC) NETWORK OF THE INDIAN RAILWAYS HAS STARTED ATTRACTING MORE FREIGHT PLAYERS. FROM CONNECTING MAJOR PORTS TO CRISS-CROSSING MULTIMODAL LOGISTICS PARKS, DFCS ARE SET TO BE A GAME CHANGER FOR FREIGHT SERVICES IN INDIA 

- RICHA SHARMA

the summer began early in 2022. That March was the hottest on record. That sparked a huge jump in power consumption as people relied on their ACs and coolers to beat the heat wave. That meant a higher demand for coal to feed India’s thermal power plants, which account for over 70% of the country’s power generation.

The jump in demand led to a surge in rail traffic, sparking delays. In fact, the Indian Railways had to cancel over 1,000 passenger trains to facilitate the quick delivery of coal to power plants.

Such instances are set to be a thing of the past, all thanks to the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC). This 1,337-km dedicated rail route for coal movement connects Son Nagar in Bihar to Ludhiana in Punjab, intersecting central, eastern, and northern coalfields and feeding coal to over two dozen thermal plants in the North. Most importantly, it is expected to cut the transit time from coal mines in the East to power plants in the North by 24 hours on average.

“The days of blackouts due to coal shortages because of the inefficiency of Indian Railways are over,” Nanduri Srinivas, former Director of Operations and Business Development of the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL), tells BT. “Some of the power plants in the North have cut down on coal reserve stocking, which has helped in releasing the required operational capital as coal is reaching faster due to the eastern DFC,” adds Srinivas, who retired on December 31, 2023.