Indian Railways awards first contracts for dedicated freight corridors
23 Nov 2009
The Railways has awarded the first two contracts for Railway-funded portions of the 105 km on the Sonnagar-Mughalsarai section of the eastern and 54 major and important bridges on the Surat-Virar section of the western freight corridors, minister of state for railways KH Muniyappa informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply.
Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd (DFCCIL), a special purpose vehicle created by the ministry of railways is implementing the dedicated freight corridor (DCC) projects.
The minister said the final location survey has been completed on the western freight corridor and Ludhiana-Sonnagar section of the eastern freight corridor.
The DFCCIL has so far set up 11 field units headed by chief project managers for project implementation.
The government, he said, is seeking external funding from bilateral and multilateral agencies for the project. It has sought funding from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) under the Special Terms of Economic Partnership (STEP) scheme of the Japanese government for the western corridor, he said, adding that a loan agreement for engineering services has been signed on 27 October 2009.
The eastern dedicated freight corridor will link Dankuni in West Bengal with Ludhiana in Punjab and will pass through West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab.