Tata Projects launches work on Delhi-Mumbai freight corridor
06 Jan 2016
Tata Projects Ltd, an engineering, procurement and construction company, on Monday said it has started work on a 320-km section of the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project between Delhi and Mumbai.
This stretch is a Rs4,328-crore project and will be jointly developed by Tata Projects and Ircon International Ltd. The companies have already received advance payments from the government to carry out the construction work.
The DFC will help the Indian railways transport freight at a much faster pace by separating the freight and passenger traffic.
The Western corridor project of the DFC from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai is being funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Eastern corridor from Ludhiana to Dankuni by the World Bank.
Tata Projects and Ircon International are part of the Express Freight Consortium, led by Japan's Mitsui & Co. Ltd. The work for this project is scheduled to be completed in 48 months. The consortium will use automated track layer machines to speed up the work.
''The axle load of the track would be 32.5 tons, at par with tracks in Japan, compared to the current Indian rail tracks of 25 ton axle load. The project, is for civil and track works and will be executed in 2 contract packages –between Vaitarana and Sachin (186 km) and between Sachin and Vadodara (134 km),'' Tata Projects said in a statement.
To execute part of the Western DFC, Tata Projects will look into civil engineering work and lay track jointly with Ircon, while Mitsui will provide technical expertise.
Prior to this, Tata Projects had executed part of the eastern dedicated freight corridor. The company's order book as of now stands at Rs.18,000 crore. It has also secured L1 position-the lowest bidder in reverse bidding-in projects worth about Rs.5,000 crore, it said.